The Northern Hemisphere just experienced its hottest summer on record, underscoring the urgency for a path toward climate-wise cooling appliances. Over the summer months, CLASP engaged with a variety of practitioners across articles and reports, virtual events, and a digital campaign. Revisit some of the highlights below.

Climate-Wise Cooling Campaign

In June, CLASP launched the #ClimateWiseCooling campaign to highlight the global surge in cooling demand and strategies to address the challenge. CLASP Senior Manager Ana Maria Carreño kicked off the campaign with an introductory article and Kofi Agyarko, of the Ghana Energy Commission, penned a guest article to underscore the problem of product dumping. CLASP also held several virtual events. Over the following two months, the campaign received 950,000 impressions across Twitter and LinkedIn, reaching participants in 16 countries.

Getting to More Ambitious Standards for Cooling Appliances

Minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) are the first step to stronger appliance efficiency policies. In June, CLASP hosted ‘Ambitious National Cooling Policy: Development and Implementation of Model MEPS.’ This panel highlighted the benefits of adopting the United for Efficiency MEPS as a standard national efficiency policy. The event, moderated by CLASP Senior Manager Ana Maria Carreño, featured panelists Patrick Blake, a Policy Expert at U4E; Nihar Shah, Presidential Director of the Global Cooling Efficiency Program at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; and Michael Kiza, a Programme Management Expert at the East African Centre of Excellence for Renewable Energy and Efficiency.

CLASP and the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) held an interactive webinar on the Indian model of policy development for cooling appliances. The event was paneled by leaders in appliance energy efficiency policy, including Abhay Bakre, Director of BEE; J.M. Bhambure, member of the Refrigeration and Air Conditioners Manufacturers Association; and Sameer Pandita of BEE. The event welcome was delivered by CLASP CEO Christine Egan, and the discussion was moderated by CLASP Chief Program Officer of Climate Eric Gibbs. The panelists discussed the creation of the Indian energy efficiency regulations on cooling products and gave insight into the ongoing maintenance of the successful policies.

In August, CLASP hosted ‘Best Practices in AC Efficiency Policy: Experiences from Brazil, China and India’. This event brought together policymakers from each country to share lessons from implementing cooling efficiency policy in their respective countries. All three countries established a predictive time table for policy development and implementation, while also demonstrating a variety of approaches, such as India’s National Cooling Plan and consumer-facing Star Labeling Program, Brazil’s revised AC labeling program, and China’s AC MEPs.

Additionally, Brazil announced a revision to the labeling criteria for air conditioners (ACs). The new scale better distinguishes high performing ACs on the market and empowers consumers to make more energy efficient purchases. The implementation of this policy revision will more than double the stringency of energy labeling over the next five years and account for a cumulative CO₂ reduction of 21.5 MT by 2030.

Environmentally Harmful Dumping of Inefficient Cooling Appliances

Environmentally harmful dumping of inefficient and obsolete appliances featured prominently this summer. CLASP, with the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD), published a novel report in June that details the extent of the problem across ten countries in North, West, East, and Southern Africa, ultimately providing policymakers with a set of solutions to encourage a transition toward highly-efficient, sustainable cooling technologies. In July, CLASP and IGSD hosted a webinar to present and discuss findings from the report, featuring CLASP Senior Associate Rebecca Schloemann and IGSD Senior Scientist Dr. Gabrielle Dreyfus.

In July, CLASP hosted another virtual discussion on environmentally harmful dumping—introducing perspectives from practitioners on the ground. The event offered an opportunity to learn more about how the environmental dumping challenge is defined, the impacts of environmental dumping on the ground, policy solutions to prevent environmental dumping, and opportunities to address the challenges associated with proper end-of-life disposal and recycling of e-waste containing refrigerants, like air conditioners and refrigerators. The webinar, moderated by CLASP Senior Associate Rebecca Schloemann, included panelists Dr. Gabrielle Dreyfus, Senior Scientist at IGSD, Kofi Agyarko, Director of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency at the Ghana Energy Commission, and Adrian Clews, Managing Director of Hinckley Associates Nigeria.

CLASP would like to extend a sincere thank you to each of our partners and participants. We look forward to continuing the dialogue on climate-wise cooling across many more virtual events, publications, and digital platforms.