In the sweltering basement of a Jakarta housing complex, technician Ari Sobaruddin spends 12-hour shifts capturing invisible but potent gases that contribute to global warming. As part of Indonesian climate-tech startup Recoolit, Ari is helping prevent refrigerants, super-pollutants thousands of times more powerful than carbon dioxide, from leaking into the atmosphere.
“I love it because it’s about preserving nature,” said Ari, 30, as he worked amid the maze of silver air conditioning pipes. The effort is slow and physically demanding, but vital.
Recoolit was founded in 2021 to tackle what it sees as an overlooked climate threat: refrigerants like hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which are used in air conditioners, refrigerators, and vehicles. Though less harmful to the ozone layer than their chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) predecessors, HFCs remain highly potent greenhouse gases.
“Refrigerants are everywhere in developing countries right now,” said Yosaka Eka Putranta, Recoolit’s head of operations. “And most of them are still in use, despite international agreements to phase them out.”
As climate change intensifies and global temperatures rise, demand for cooling is surging, especially in growing economies like Indonesia. Yet during maintenance or disposal, refrigerants can be illegally vented into the air. In Indonesia, such releases are prohibited but rarely enforced.
Recoolit steps into this gap by training and paying technicians to capture used refrigerants, which are then destroyed in certified facilities. Workers receive 50,000 rupiah (about $3) per kilogram recovered. Unlike recycling, which risks re-releasing the gas, destruction provides permanent mitigation.
The company funds its operations by selling carbon credits, valued at $75 per unit, based on the amount of refrigerant it destroys. While the broader carbon market faces criticism for weak verification, Recoolit uses a system developed by Yale University’s Carbon Containment Lab and conducts laboratory analysis in Malaysia to verify refrigerant contents.
Big tech has taken notice. Google partnered with Recoolit earlier this year to prevent emissions equal to one million tons of CO₂ and support the startup’s expansion beyond Indonesia.
While critics argue that stricter government enforcement should replace such private efforts, experts say initiatives like Recoolit’s remain essential. “As a climate action, it’s a very good one,” said Robyn Schofield, an atmospheric chemistry professor at the University of Melbourne. “I wish we had more of it.”
Written By Rodney Mbua
