The Refrigerant Compliance Glossary

The division of regulatory duties across equipment owner, service contractor, certified technician, refrigerant seller, and reclaimer. Each has distinct obligations tied to specific regulatory sections.

The party that owns or operates the appliance and holds the legal duty for leak rate calculation, repair timelines, recordkeeping, registration, and reporting. Service contractors carry technician certification, recovery, and service-documentation duties.

A refrigerant used in place of an ozone-depleting substance. Substitutes are reviewed for acceptability by end use under EPA’s SNAP program and may still be regulated under the AIM Act based on GWP.

The specific HFCs listed for phasedown under the AIM Act. Subpart C obligations extend beyond them to any substitute with a GWP above 53.

EPA’s category for HCFC refrigerants, most notably R-22. Production and import of R-22 ended January 1, 2020.

EPA’s category for the most ozone-damaging compounds, including CFC refrigerants like R-11 and R-12. Production ended in the United States in 1996.

A compound that destroys stratospheric ozone, including the CFC and HCFC refrigerants. EPA sorts them into Class I (the most damaging, now phased out) and Class II.

A measure of how much a substance damages stratospheric ozone relative to R-11, which is defined as 1.0. R-22 is roughly 0.055; HFCs are zero.

Disclosure of an organization’s greenhouse gas emissions, in which leaked refrigerant is converted to CO2 equivalent and reported as a direct (Scope 1) emission. Some jurisdictions require it independently of refrigerant management — New Jersey’s program is reporting-only.

Direct greenhouse gas emissions from sources a company owns or controls — which includes refrigerant leaked from its own equipment. California requires large companies doing business in the state to disclose Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions.