How company secretly smuggled world’s most potent greenhouse gas into Australia
A company that imported electrical equipment containing the world’s most potent greenhouse gas has been hit with a record fine of almost half a million dollars.
The Australian arm of the unnamed company was fined after importing equipment containing sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) — the most potent synthetic greenhouse gas — without a licence.
Australian Border Force and the Department for Climate Change, Energy and the Environment and Water investigators intercepted the equipment at every major port in Australia between September 2023 and March.
More than $3 million worth of equipment was seized, containing an estimated 517 kilograms of SF6 which is considered a serious contributing factor to global warming.
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If released to the atmosphere that would have a climate impact equivalent to running nearly 5000 cars for a year.
As a result the company was fined a record $465,480.
It is illegal to import equipment containing a scheduled substance like SF6 into Australia without a licence under both the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act 1989 and the Customs Act 1901.
