Tradewater Acquires Carbon Shield, Accelerating Development of Projects Preventing Methane Emissions from Orphaned Oil and Gas Wells

CHICAGO, July 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Tradewater, LLC, a global leader in developing projects to permanently eliminate superpollutants, announced that they have acquired Carbon Shield, a Colorado-based company that plugs actively leaking orphaned oil and gas wells.

Tradewater's strategic acquisition of Carbon Shield ensures and accelerates Tradewater's development of methane abatement projects in Colorado and Wyoming, where Carbon Shield has built relationships and a pipeline of orphaned oil and gas wells to be plugged. Tradewater began developing projects in the orphaned oil and gas space in 2023 and has completed projects across Illinois, Indiana, and Kansas with an impact of over 1.6 million tons of CO₂ e. The Carbon Shield acquisition facilitates Tradewater's expansion into new geographies in the US, and their overall impact in the orphaned oil and gas space.

"Methane is the make-or-break gas for climate action, and orphaned oil and gas wells are an uncontrolled source of methane that can be mitigated through known technologies and the carbon markets," says Kirsten Dueck, CEO of Tradewater. "Tradewater is committed to rapidly scaling this important work. The acquisition of Carbon Shield enables us to do just that."

As part of the acquisition, Taylor Heffner, who served as the VP of Operations at Carbon Shield, has joined the Tradewater team. "We're thrilled to welcome Taylor to our project team," says Nicholas Cade, Senior Director of Supply Team Partnerships & Operations at Tradewater. "Taylor's enthusiasm, deep experience, and mission-driven focus will have an immediate impact on our work."

Taylor is a petroleum engineer with more than a decade of experience in Colorado's oil and gas sector. He worked in production and development engineering roles before owning and operating producing wells, with involvement in well plugging and abandonment spanning his entire career. "I'm excited to join the Tradewater team and lend my expertise to the work of preventing methane and other harmful emissions leaking from orphaned oil and gas wells," says Heffner.

Tradewater's mission is to permanently eliminate superpollutants and bend the curve on global warming as quickly as possible. To do this, Tradewater focuses on collecting, controlling, and permanently preventing the release of non-CO₂ superpollutants thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide–and methane is a critical part of this mission. This includes projects that destroy legacy ozone-depleting refrigerants at their end of life, as well as projects that plug orphaned oil and gas wells.

Methane is a short-lived climate pollutant that is 80x more potent than CO₂ over a 20-year timeframe accelerating warming in the near-term.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates there are more than 141,000 documented orphaned wells – with likely hundreds of thousands more undocumented. Additionally, there are 3.9 million abandoned oil and gas wells nationwide at risk of becoming orphaned. Yet, no regulation requires their cleanup. Left unchecked, these wells will continue to leak methane and other pollutants that fuel climate change and threaten ecosystems and public health. Tradewater identifies and plugs actively leaking wells, permanently eliminating their negative impact on our environment and giving landowners back their land to use as they see fit after remediation. Each plugged well generates high-quality carbon credits, creating tangible environmental and community benefits.

Tradewater's goal is to prevent over 30 million tons of CO₂e emissions by 2030, and the development of projects to address methane from orphaned oil and gas wells is critical in achieving this milestone.

Scaling the work to plug orphaned wells goes hand in hand with scaling the demand for high-quality climate solutions. Tradewater has worked to turn overlooked emissions into immediate, scalable impact, offering a fast, results-driven path to slow global warming today while complementing long-term carbon mitigation strategies for companies. Workday, Duke University, and Airbnb are among Tradewater's growing list of cross-sector partners looking to prioritize the inclusion of superpollutants in their climate portfolios.

About Tradewater
A certified B Corp, Tradewater directly combats climate change by identifying, collecting, and eliminating the release of non-CO₂ superpollutants—including halocarbons from old refrigerants, excess halon gasses from canisters, and methane from actively leaking oil and gas wells. These critical environmental actions generate high-quality carbon offset credits. The Tradewater team has eliminated over 11.3 million tons of CO₂ equivalent since inception and is on a path to prevent at least 30 million tons by 2030 — similar to removing nearly 7 million gas-powered cars from U.S. roads. Every Tradewater credit is backed by rigorous third-party verification and issued by leading registries to ensure maximum integrity, additionality, and accuracy. Learn more at www.tradewater.co.

Media Contact
Kirsten Dueck, CEO, Tradewater
[email protected]

SOURCE Tradewater