Scoping Project on a North American Center for Informed Substitution
Status: Completed
Operational Plan: 2023
Project Duration: 18 months
Start date: July 2024
The presence of chemicals of concern in a broad range of products can be associated with risks. Many of these chemicals, their chemical substitutes, and their transformation products can negatively impact the environment and/or human health. Informed substitution assessments focus on safer chemical alternatives to avoid such risks. Capacities, priorities, and policies related to chemicals of concern differ in Canada, Mexico and the United States. However, given the technical demand for substitution assessments, the three countries can utilize existing (but perhaps not widely known or available) knowledge to systematize and harmonize ongoing and future research, resources, and best practices in order to make the information comparable and available. This project will assess the feasibility of establishing a trinational Center for Informed Substitution (CIS) and provide a roadmap for facilitating knowledge sharing, promoting best practices, and fostering the implementation of chemical alternatives assessments and informed substitution across North America.
To find out more about this project, here is the complete project description.
Issues
- Informed substitution transdisciplinary approach requires a high level of collaboration among concerned parties including industry, regulating agencies, academia and others. It is often unclear who should lead such collaborations; indeed, various parties might lack the necessary knowledge, resources, or motivation to initiate and manage the work.
- Regrettable substitution occurs when a chemical of concern is substituted for one just as or potentially harmful or of unknown health and environmental risks.
Aim
Explore the establishment of a tri-national center for informed substitution of chemicals of concern to facilitate knowledge sharing, promote best practices, and foster the implementation of alternatives assessments and informed substitution across North America.
Deliverables
- High-level review of current global Informed substitution (IS) assessment frameworks and governance mechanisms
- Identification of key resources, actors, sectors, and networks currently working on IS assessments
- Workplan for a North American Center for informed substitution pilot
Principal results
The CEC conducted a scoping study on establishing a trinational center for informed substitution of chemicals of concern that would facilitate knowledge sharing, fostering best practices, alternative assessments and informed substitution across North America. The study proposed a three-tiered model of a North American Center on Informed Substitution (NACoIS) that would offer scalable options for investment, staffing to support North American coordination and capacity for substituting hazardous chemicals with safer alternatives. The scalable options for impact included enhancing: (1) capacity, (2) information access and (3) progress on shared challenges. By aligning capacity, information access and collaboration, a NACoIS could reduce duplicative effort, avoid regrettable substitutes and accelerate the transition to safer chemicals across North America. The model was updated based on feedback received during a CEC workshop in September 2025, along with draft scoping for pilot work designed to test the functionality and strategic value of a NACoIS.
Related Work
Contact
For more information about this project or to partner with us, contact:
Orlando Cabrera-Rivera
Head, Environmental Quality