On 3-4 October 2023, a national capacity-building workshop in Banjul marked the formal start of the Leapfrogging to Energy-Efficient and Climate Friendly Air Conditioners and Refrigerators in The Gambia project. It provided the first opportunity to convene the broad range of stakeholders involved, including representatives from Gambia’s Ministries of Petroleum and Energy (MOPE), Finance and Economic Affairs (MOFEA), Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment (MOTIE), Health (MOH), ...Read More
Malaysia Moves Towards More Efficient Air Conditioners with Support from the ASEAN Cool Initiative
In June, the ASEAN Cool Initiative took another step forward with a kick-off meeting at the Energy Commission in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with stakeholders from the energy efficiency and safety regulation departments of the Commission, officials from national testing laboratories and representatives from International Institute for Energy, Conservation (IIEC) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) United for Efficiency (U4E) initiative to agree the detailed activities to be ...Read More
New GCF Readiness Programme Funding to Support Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Cooling in Rwanda
At a workshop in Kigali at the end of May, the Government of Rwanda, through the Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA), announced funding from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Readiness Programme which will contribute to the implementation of appliance standards, a product registration system and related aspects of the Rwanda Cooling Initiative (R-COOL), as well as operationalisation of the first Rwandan SPOKE (Specialized Outreach and Knowledge Establishment) of the Africa Centre of ...Read More
Progress in ASEAN Region on Enhancing Energy Efficiency Requirements of Home Appliances
The new Clean Cooling Collaborative-funded, ASEAN Cool Initiative aims to accelerate the implementation of the ASEAN Regional Policy Roadmap for Energy Efficient Room Air Conditioners by providing technical assistance and capacity building on Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) and labels in the region. It will be implemented by the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) across the region, with support from United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) – United for Efficiency (U4E), Lawrence ...Read More
Inauguration of National Technical Committee Drives Progress Towards Energy-Efficient and Climate-Friendly Cooling in Nigeria
The importance of energy efficiency as one of the most cost-effective means of providing energy security, increasing economic productivity, reducing air pollution and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) was recognised by Nigeria’s Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Adeleke Olonmimbe Mamora, when he inaugurated the National Technical Committee for the Scaling Up Energy-Efficient and Climate-Friendly Cooling in Nigeria’s NDC Revision project at a Stakeholder Consultation ...Read More
Specialist Training in Cuba Extends Accuracy of National MVE Testing for Air Conditioners
In December 2022, a specialist technical workshop provided training for laboratory staff and technical energy efficient officials in Cuba to facilitate implementation of improvements to the existing monitoring verification and enforcement aspects of national efficiency regulations for air conditioners, specifically on seasonal energy efficiency metrics and inspections and enforcement of energy efficient labels. The training was provided on 8-9 December 2022 by UNEP’s United for Efficiency ...Read More
U4E Model Regulation Guidelines Support NDC4 Call for Proposals on Refrigeration and Air Conditioning NDC Strategy Development
“Ambitious countries” may be able to benefit from technical advisory in the application of best practices for Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) strategy development in the refrigeration and air conditioning (RAC) sector thanks to the NDC4 Call for Proposals from the global project Cool Contributions Fighting Climate Change II (C4 II). C4 II is funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) under the ...Read More
El Salvador and Honduras Advance Energy-efficient and Climate-friendly Air Conditioners Through MVE Mechanisms and Testing Standards
El Salvador and Honduras advance energy-efficient and climate-friendly air conditioners through monitoring, verification and enforcement (MVE) mechanisms and testing standards with support from UNEP’s United for Efficiency (U4E), in preparation for new regional standards for higher performance cooling appliances. In September 2022, key national stakeholders from El Salvador and Honduras attended UNEP’s United for Efficiency (U4E) workshops, as part of the GCF Readiness Programme-funded ...Read More
Ghana Poised to Reap the Benefits of Sustainable Public Procurement of Efficient and Climate-Friendly Cooling
Government agencies in Ghana are poised to drive a major switch to efficient and climate-friendly cooling thanks to new sustainable public procurement (SPP) protocols introduced with technical assistance from UNEP U4E. On 2 September 2022, representatives of Ghana’s Energy Commission, led by Hubert Zan and Edwin Kwasi Tamakloe, and UNEP-U4E delivered training on SPP to government officials from the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Ghana Health Service (GHS). The training focused on air ...Read More
Stakeholder Workshop Marks Cuba’s Progress in the Journey Towards Energy-efficient Air Conditioning
Cuba has the potential to save around 19 TWh of electricity annually by 2040 through improvements in the energy efficiency of their growing domestic air conditioning stock and are taking action to achieve it through the Leapfrogging to Energy-Efficient and Climate Friendly Air Conditioners in Cuba, El Salvador and Honduras project. At workshop in Havana in June 2022, U4E expert, Víctor Mínguez, shared the results of the recently completed market assessment study which underpins the ...Read More