IIAR and the AIM Act
By Chris Savage – August 2025
For many years now Carlson & Stewart Refrigeration has been a member of IIAR, The International Institute of All-Natural Refrigeration. As the name implies, IIAR is an advocate for the all-natural refrigerants and their applications. When talking about all-natural refrigerants we are primarily talking about Ammonia and CO2.
As refrigeration experts, here at CSR we are familiar with and work with pretty much all refrigerants, whether all-natural (ammonia, CO2) or synthetic (R448A, R404A, etc). As such, we are keenly aware of the current US regulations that are impacting the use of synthetic refrigerants. Unfortunately, these regulations can be challenging to stay abreast of.
But there are a variety of different resources out there that can help you navigate these rough waters. One of these is IIAR. IIAR has developed several tools that can help you navigate the complexities of the AIM Act. All of these tools can be found on the IIAR website at
https://iiar.org/IIAR/IIAR/Government_and_Code/What_is_the_AIM_Act.aspx?hkey=ff049aa4-247a-40b1-8867-d3ae05a2be7b
One of the tools I wanted to mention is the “Refrigerant Evaluator Tool”. This tool allows the user to input the refrigerant being considered to see where it fits into the AIM act regulations. It also provides a great deal of information about each of the refrigerants, such as the chemical name and makeup, the GWP/ODP, physical refrigerant characteristics (boiling point, latent heat of vaporization, etc), SNAP approvals, ban dates, etc. Although not the end all, be all of needed information, it provides a great snapshot into many of the synthetic refrigerants.
Check out IIAR’s website to take advantage of the Refrigerant Evaluator Tool and a variety of other great resources while trying to navigate this challenging landscape. And of course, give us here at CSR a call and we will do all that we can to help.