In January 2026, the EPA published a fact sheet cutting through the complexity of the AIM Act's Automatic Leak Detection requirements — and the deadlines are closer than most facilities leaders realize. If your commercial refrigeration system holds 1,500+ lbs of refrigerant and was installed after January 1, 2017, you have until January 1, 2027 to be fully compliant. Here's exactly what the rule requires, decoded.

Starting January 1, 2026, the AIM Act’s new rules could force operators to retrofit or retire refrigeration systems that leak persistently—triggering costly replacements if repairs fail.Many businesses mistakenly believe they can delay Automatic Leak Detection (ALD) until 2027, but enforcement begins a year earlier.

With the EPA's January 1, 2026 AIM Act deadline approaching, grocery facility managers face a critical choice: treat Automatic Leak Detection (ALD) compliance as a burden, or leverage it for competitive advantage. This comprehensive guide compares real vendor pricing across all three compliance options—indirect whole-system AL...

The easiest way to compare January 1, 2026 AIM Act compliance options is: cost. We gathered vendor pricing data from multiple top-20 grocery retailers, leading Direct and Indirect ALD vendors, leading maintenance (manual leak inspection) vendors, and industry experts, and the results were clear.

Implementing whole-system (indirect) automatic leak detection (ALD) typically costs less than completing mandatory manual leak-inspection for 1 year under the AIM Act and state-level regulations—even before you consider any of the financial, operational, maintenance, or sustainability benefits of ALD.

President Trump has returned to office and resumed his administration’s focus on deregulation, but that doesn’t mean you can ignore this EPA refrigerant law. Since the AIM Act was signed into law five years ago, Congress has solidified the final rules of the legislation and the deadline to repeal it has passed. With just five months until enforcement begins, it is highly unlikely any legislative changes to this law will move forw...

Under the AIM Act and state-level refrigerant management regulations, Automatic Leak Detection (ALD) systems seem like a convenient “easy button” to help achieve compliance, and they are even required in some cases. But choosing the wrong ALD system, one that floods your inbox with false alarms or fails to detect the right leaks, can backfire in a big way.

Refrigerant Regulations: EPA's AIM Act compliance and the January 2026 deadline, by Amrit Robbins, as featured in Chain Store Age.

New York's groundbreaking refrigerant regulations, which took effect January 9th, 2025, signal a significant shift in how facilities must manage their refrigeration systems. The requirements are immediate and substantial: any system using 200+ pounds of refrigerant must undergo quarterly inspections, while 1500+ lb systems require monthly monitoring. All leaks must be repaired within 14 days, and systems that continue to leak fac...

As grocery retailers face a decades-long transition to natural refrigerants, managing HFC leaks has become an urgent priority for both environmental and financial reasons. This challenge was the focus of a recent NASRC webinar led by Axiom Cloud CEO Amrit Robbins on December 10th. The session explored how retailers can tackle refrigerant leaks now to achieve immediate cost savings and environmental benefits, rather than ...

Project 2025, a conservative policy blueprint for a potential Republican administration, has raised questions about the future of HFC regulations under the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act. While the document calls for repealing "unnecessarily stringent and costly" HFC regulations, grocery retailers should think carefully be...

The countdown to January 1, 2026 has begun for grocery retailers and cold storage operators across America. That's when the EPA will begin enforcing new refrigerant leak detection requirements under the AIM Act – and the penalties for non-compliance are steep. To help facilities prepare, we're excited to announce Enhanced Compliance Reporting, a new addition to our AI-powered Early Leak Detection system.

The upcoming changes to EPA regulations under the AIM Act dramatically alter how grocery retailers and cold storage facilities manage refrigerant leaks. In a September 17th Webinar titled "How Can I Comply with the New EPA Requirements in 2025—and Achieve a Great ROI?", Axiom Cloud CEO Amrit Robbins and Steven Blumenfeld, GM of TrakRef, explored these regulatory shifts and offered insights on compliance strategies that can also enhance operational efficiency and sustainabilit

Refrigerant leaks are a hidden threat for grocery stores, with massive climate impact and costly consequences. As the EPA enforces HFC regulations under the AIM Act, grocery chains must act fast. Axiom Cloud’s software provides a low-cost, no-hardware solution to reduce leaks, cut emissions, and ensure compliance. The question isn’t if you should act, but how.

Properly operating freezer and refrigeration systems are the consumer's guarantee of safely preserved perishable food items with the longest shelf life possible.

On December 19, Axiom Cloud hosted a webinar with experts from MSA Bacharach, Effecterra, Therm Solutions, and NASRC to discuss the new EPA regulations and refrigerant guidelines.

For grocery and cold storage operators, the advanced refrigeration systems that keep your products fresh and frozen are essential to your business success. However, many of these systems still employ hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants, which, when leaked, become potent and harmful greenhouse gases. With the EPA's upcoming regulations phasing out high-global warming potential HFCs, proper monitoring and maintenance of refrigeration equipment to prevent leaks will be critical

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is enacting new regulations to phase down potent greenhouse gas refrigerants called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). This phasedown aims to reduce HFC emissions that contribute to climate change. But what do these new rules mean for you as the owner of a commercial facility like a grocery store or cold storage warehouse that relies on refrigeration? Below I summarize the key impacts on commercial refrigeration owners and how businesses can

On March 2, 2023, Axiom Cloud hosted a webinar with experts from City Building and Engineering (CBES) and Effecterra to discuss alarm monitoring and cloud analytics.

On December 6, 2022, Axiom Cloud hosted a cold-storage-focused webinar with Benjamin "Spoon" Spoon and William "Danny" Wise of HelloFresh.