SNAP Program Overview
The EPA’s Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) identifies and evaluates substitutes in end-uses that have historically used ozone-depleting substances (ODS). Under Section 612 of the Clean Air Act (CAA), SNAP program reviews substitute within a comparative risk framework in the following industrial sectors:
The SNAP framework also considers the following:
- Looks at overall risk to human health and the environment of both existing and new substitutes;
- Publishes lists of acceptable and unacceptable substitutes by end-use;
- Promotes the use of acceptable substitutes; and
- Provides the public with information about the potential environmental and human health impacts of substitutes.
To arrive at determinations on the acceptability of substitutes, the Agency performs a cross-media analysis of risks to human health and the environment from the use of various substitutes in different industrial and consumer uses that have historically used ODS. EPA reviews characteristics, including the following, when evaluating each proposed substitute:
- Ozone depletion potential (ODP),
- Global warming potential (GWP),
- Toxicity,
- Flammability,
- Occupational and consumer health/safety,
- Local air quality, and
- Ecosystem effects.
The SNAP program does not provide a static list of alternatives but instead, evolves the list as EPA makes decisions that are informed by its overall understanding of the environmental and human health impacts as well as its current knowledge about available substitutes. Section 612 also provides that EPA must prohibit the use of a substitute where EPA has determined that there are other available substitutes that pose less overall risk to human health and the environment.
Learn more on the regulation or substitute information by industry sector.