CLASP and Pakistan’s national and provincial energy efficiency agencies convened a workshop to kick off a multi-year engagement on appliance efficiency policy.

Pakistan is extremely susceptible to the impacts of climate change with a fivefold increase in the number of heat wave days over the last three decades. About 50 million people in the country still lack access to grid electricity and the country ranks 115^th among 137 economies for reliable power. Power shortages are common and have costed the country almost 4% of its GDP in recent years. To address the energy scenario, the government of Pakistan is increasing power generation, as well as prioritising energy efficiency for appliances, among other initiatives.

In support of Pakistan’s efforts, CLASP and our partners convened a 2-day workshop Sharing, Informing and Planning to Support Pakistan’s Efficiency Drive on 23-24 July 2019. The workshop marked the launch of a new partnership between CLASP and Pakistan’s National Energy Efficiency Conservation Agency (NEECA) and Punjab Energy Efficiency Conservation Agency (PEECA) that will help accelerate appliance and equipment energy efficiency policies in the country. This was an opportunity to leverage the expertise of CLASP’s India program, and exchange knowledge between countries of the same subcontinent. The workshop was held in Dubai, UAE.

Representatives from NEECA, PEECA, international experts, local experts/partner Hima^verte and CLASP converged to exchange lessons and learnings that can further strengthen Pakistan’s national energy efficiency roadmap.

The two-day intensive workshop addressed the technical and programmatic gaps faced by the national and provincial agencies. Replicable lessons for Pakistan emerged through CLASP’s product, technical and policy experience in different economies. India, in particular, with its similar topography, climatic conditions and energy situation provided useful insights on its experience of formulating its energy efficiency standards and labeling program.

The workshop helped identify key priority areas for a CLASP-Pakistan collaboration, including a 5-year plan and strategy to develop the appliance energy efficiency policy program for NEECA and PEECA, supporting the national agency to set minimum energy performance standards for electric motors, scoping the same for distribution transformers, developing policy compliance framework mechanisms, assisting PEECA in meeting its capacity gaps, and providing overall technical assistance to both PEECA and NEECA.

The new project builds on CLASP’s previous association with PEECA to support the development and implementation of energy efficiency policies for fans, where CLASP, along with its partners, spearheaded a major government bulk procurement and fan replacement program, substituting inefficient, energy-intensive fans with high-efficiency models in government health and education facilities.

NEECA’s larger vision is to create a ripple effect across Pakistan and motivate other provinces in the country to launch their own energy efficiency initiatives, complementing the work of NEECA at the federal level.