Superpollutants

Superpollutants — methane, nitrous oxide, and legacy refrigerants — are responsible for roughly half of all observed warming since the Industrial Revolution. Some are 13,000 times more potent than CO₂. And because they clear the atmosphere in years, not centuries, reducing them today produces faster climate results than almost anything other action or asset in a corporate program.

This guide covers what superpollutants are, how carbon markets address them, what procurement looks like across four project types, and where they fit in SBTi's new Ongoing Emissions Responsibility (OER) framework.

What’s inside

The science: How methane, nitrous oxide, and legacy refrigerants compare to CO₂ in potency and atmospheric lifetime — and why near-term action on them matters so much.

The four project types: Superpollutant destruction, industrial emissions capture, agricultural mitigation, and landfill gas — with pricing, supply dynamics, and integrity considerations for each.

A procurement playbook: When spot purchasing is the right call, when multi-year offtakes make more sense, and where buyers most often go wrong.

Standards alignment: Where superpollutants fit in the SBTi OER framework — what they qualify for, and what they don't.

Data analysis of the post-election VCM

Get insights into the state of carbon markets since the U.S. presidential election.

You’ll learn:

• Whether companies are withdrawing from carbon markets and climate commitments
• Which project types are in high demand and short supply
• How to engage strategically with carbon markets in an unevenly distributed supply crunch

Leading signals for market trends

The Patch platform collects and aggregates signals other sources don’t — like what buyers are searching for versus what they actually purchase, preferences broken out by mechanism and rating, and more.

This report includes insightful data on every project type in the VCM plus expert analysis of what it means.