How this super pollutant became as ‘lucrative as cocaine’
From Deutsche Welle by Deutsche Welle
June 5, 2026 · 26 min
About this episode
The episode explores the black-market trade of HFCs, highlighting their environmental impact and economic value.
At some point today, you’ve probably used an appliance that relies on HFCs, also known as refrigerants. They're many times more potent than CO2, which is why the EU, US and others are phasing them out. Planet A reporter Tim Schauenberg went undercover to explore the black-market boom in these gases now worth hundreds of millions of euros in Europe alone.
People in this episode
Guest: Tim Schauenberg
Topics covered
- HFCs
- black market
- refrigerants
- environmental policy
- climate change
Keywords
- HFCs
- refrigerants
- black market
- EU
- US
- climate change
- environmental policy
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: EU, US
Products: HFCs
Places: Europe
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