Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Billions of euros of illegal cooling gases are imported into Europe and sold unchecked all over the continent. They're banned because they can warm the planet way more quickly than CO2. We went undercover, exposing the dirty business of smuggling and selling banned refrigerants. Who profits? And how can they be stopped?
#PlanetA #deepdive #HFCs
Credits:
Reporter: Tim Schauenberg
Camera: Henning Goll, Cem Adam Springer, Florian Kroker
Video editor: David Jacobi
Supervising editor: Kiyo Dörrer, Malte Rohwer-Kahlmann
Factcheck: Kirsten Funck
Thumbnail: Em Chabridon
More to read:
EIA's latest report:
eia-international.org/news/organised-crime-allegedly-supplies-illegal-refrigerants-to-big-italian-supply-chains
Spanish police report:
sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es/Sede/Desarticulada_una_organizacion_criminal_dedicada_al_trafico_ilicito_de_gases_de_efecto_invernadero.html
European Police Network on Environmental crime:
https://www.europol.europa.eu/crime-areas/environmental-crime
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:36 Searching shady refrigerants
03:29 Berlin: The deal
07:41 Frankfurt: Is it legit?
11:54 Italy: The network
15:17 Spain: Organized crime
17:20 How to stop this
18:45 What needs to change
We're destroying our environment at an alarming rate. But it doesn't need to be this way. Planet A explores the shift towards an eco-friendly world — and challenges our ideas about what dealing with climate change means. We look at the big and the small: What we can do and how the system needs to change. We'll take a truly global look at how to get us out of this mess.
Follow Planet A on TikTok: tiktok.com/@dw_planet
Billions of euros of illegal cooling gases are imported into Europe and sold unchecked all over the continent. They're banned because they can warm the planet way more quickly than CO2. We went undercover, exposing the dirty business of smuggling and selling banned refrigerants. Who profits? And how can they be stopped?
#PlanetA #deepdive #HFCs
Credits:
Reporter: Tim Schauenberg
Camera: Henning Goll, Cem Adam Springer, Florian Kroker
Video editor: David Jacobi
Supervising editor: Kiyo Dörrer, Malte Rohwer-Kahlmann
Factcheck: Kirsten Funck
Thumbnail: Em Chabridon
More to read:
EIA's latest report:
eia-international.org/news/organised-crime-allegedly-supplies-illegal-refrigerants-to-big-italian-supply-chains
Spanish police report:
sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es/Sede/Desarticulada_una_organizacion_criminal_dedicada_al_trafico_ilicito_de_gases_de_efecto_invernadero.html
European Police Network on Environmental crime:
https://www.europol.europa.eu/crime-areas/environmental-crime
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:36 Searching shady refrigerants
03:29 Berlin: The deal
07:41 Frankfurt: Is it legit?
11:54 Italy: The network
15:17 Spain: Organized crime
17:20 How to stop this
18:45 What needs to change
We're destroying our environment at an alarming rate. But it doesn't need to be this way. Planet A explores the shift towards an eco-friendly world — and challenges our ideas about what dealing with climate change means. We look at the big and the small: What we can do and how the system needs to change. We'll take a truly global look at how to get us out of this mess.
Follow Planet A on TikTok: tiktok.com/@dw_planet
