# Does refrigerant lost while installing new ACs or chillers count in our Scope 1?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/new-ac-installation-refrigerant-leak-scope-1

Yes, if your own team does the charging, though it is usually small. IPCC 2006 puts installation losses at 0.2% to 1% of the charge for ACs and chillers, and 0.5% to 3% for commercial and industrial refrigeration. Measure it as gas bought for the new units minus their rated charge.

## The mass balance

Installation loss (kg) = refrigerant bought or used for the new equipment minus the full rated charge of that equipment. Multiply by the gas's GWP from one IPCC report and add it to Scope 1 for the year. The first charge itself is not an emission; only what escapes is.

## IPCC defaults when you have no figures

- Residential and commercial AC, including heat pumps: 0.2% to 1% of the charge.
- Chillers: 0.2% to 1%.
- Stand-alone commercial units and medium or large commercial refrigeration: 0.5% to 3%.
- Industrial refrigeration, including food processing and cold storage: 0.5% to 3%.
- Transport refrigeration and domestic refrigerators: 0.2% to 1%. Vehicle AC: 0.2% to 0.5%.
- The lower end reflects developed countries and the upper end developing countries, so justify the point you pick.

## Whose emission it is

- Your technicians charge from your cylinders: yours, in Scope 1.
- A contractor charges from its own cylinders and hands over a working system: the loss is the contractor's.
- Units that arrive pre-charged from the factory carry little loss at your site; any extra gas added for long pipe runs is charging you do.

## Worked example: an office fit-out and a chiller

- 40 split ACs on R-32, 1.2 kg charge each (illustrative): 48 kg in total
- At 1% installation loss: 0.48 kg x 771 (AR6) = 370 kg CO2e
- One 400 kg R-134a chiller at 1%: 4 kg x 1,530 (AR6) = 6.1 t CO2e

## What Senseible does here

Senseible records refrigerant top-up and gas purchase invoices as Scope 1 lines with the gas and kilograms shown on the bill, where the invoice prints them. Mark first-charge purchases so they are not read as leakage.

- [Refrigerant top-up invoice to CO2e](https://senseible.earth/answers/refrigerant-top-up-invoice-to-co2e)
- [Leakage without top-up records](https://senseible.earth/answers/estimate-refrigerant-leakage-without-records)
- [Refrigerant lost at disposal](https://senseible.earth/answers/ac-decommissioning-refrigerant-recovery-emissions)

Sources: [IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 3, Chapter 7, Table 7.9: charge, lifetime and emission factors for refrigeration and air conditioning](https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/pdf/3_Volume3/V3_7_Ch7_ODS_Substitutes.pdf), [IPCC AR6 Working Group I, global warming potentials](https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/)

Last reviewed 2026-10-25.