Alternatives assessment and substitution of harmful chemicals
Why is the substitution of hazardous chemicals important?
Replacing harmful products with safer ones is one of the most effective ways to eliminate or reduce exposure to toxic or other hazardous products. Chemical alternatives assessments are a process that can help identify and compare potential chemical and non-chemical alternatives that can be used as substitutes to replace chemicals.
Why is the substitution of hazardous chemicals important?
Replacing harmful products with safer ones is one of the most effective ways to eliminate or reduce exposure to toxic or other hazardous products. Chemical alternatives assessments are a process that can help identify and compare potential chemical and non-chemical alternatives that can be used as substitutes to replace chemicals.
What's an Alternatives Assessment?
As interest in the substitution of harmful chemicals continues to grow in industry, NGOs and the public sector, organisations are seeking guidance on the conduction of alternatives assessment and for the selection of appropriate methods and tools. The OECD is responding to this need by developing guidance documents, sharing experiences through workshops and by collecting available resources.
Latest publications
Cross Country Analysis: Approaches to Support Alternatives Assessment and Substitution – 2nd edition
This document summarises approaches used to support alternatives assessments and substitution by countries and lessons learned. This second edition is based on responses received to a questionnaire as well as discussion from the 2022 OECD Workshop on Government Approaches to Incentivise Substitution.
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Lessons Learned from Third-Party Approaches that Support Substitution of Chemicals of Concern
The goal of this report is to characterize the current landscape of third-party (not government or regulated industry) approaches to chemical substitution across OECD countries, and in doing so, to provide information on those approaches that can be used by governments and other stakeholders to inform their chemical risk management efforts.
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Economic instruments to incentivise substitution of chemicals of concern: a review
This study aims to give an overview of economic instruments used in chemicals management and in other environmental domains that governments could consider to incentivise substitution of chemicals of concern. The study reviews lessons learned from the use of five types of economic instruments: taxes, fees, subsidies, tradable permits, and deposit-refund systems, as well as “hybrid instruments” that combine elements of different instrument groups.
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Additional publications
This guidance aims to identify and outline key considerations for the identification and selection of safer alternatives. It is intended to advance a consistent understanding of the minimum requirements needed to determine whether a chemical alternative is safer than the priority chemical, product, or technology for substitution, independent of the entity performing the assessment or the alternatives assessment framework being used.
This report describes and gives a list of approaches developed across countries and by different stakeholders to support alternatives assessment and substitution of chemicals of concern.
- Synthesis report from the Workshop on Approaches to Support Substitution and Alternatives Assessment (2019)
This report summarises the main conclusions from the Workshop on Approaches to Support Substitution and Alternatives Assessment, organised in May 2018. The workshop discussed issues such as approaches used to support alternative assessments and substitution; the strengths of the approaches and challenges to design and implementation, the link between innovation and progress in substitution and alternatives assessment; and initiatives to facilitate data sharing and other collaborative efforts.
- Synthesis Report - OECD Workshop on Alternatives Assessment and Substitution of Harmful Chemicals (2015)
This report summarises the main conclusions from the Workshop on Alternatives Assessment and Substitution of Harmful Chemicals, organised in May 2015. The workshop discussed the advances in substitution and alternatives assessment; remaining gaps in terms of specific tools that could support substitution and alternatives assessment globally; the usefulness of harmonisation in specific areas; and practices for alternatives assessment and the substitution of chemicals of concerns.
This report includes definitions, principles, frameworks and tools for alternatives assessment, as well as the key drivers and audiences, and it identifies the contribution that OECD can make in this space.
OECD Substitution and Alternatives Toolbox (SAAToolbox)
The OECD Substitution and Alternatives Assessment Toolbox - SAAT Toolbox- compiles resources relevant to chemical substitution, selection and alternatives assessment. It includes tools and data sources to help users to evaluate potential hazards of chemicals with a subset focused on materials, processes and products. Additional tools address exposure assessment, life-cycle assessment and economic and social considerations. The SAAT Toolbox also contains topical frameworks, guides, toolkits and product rating systems developed by various organisations. Case studies on substitution conducted by manufacturers, academic institutions, NGOs or government bodies are compiled.
The current compilation allows for searching and filtering of tools by attribute and tool type. To suggest additional tools please contact [email protected].
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