CLASP has identified 10 appliances that are critical to fighting climate change and improving people’s lives. Industrial Motors are one of them. They power our economies and consume a significant amount of the world’s industrial electricity demand—27%. The resulting high energy consumption leads to greenhouse gas emissions and can strain power grids.

In Indonesia, the industrial sector consumes nearly 45% of the country’s total energy. Much of this demand comes from equipment powered by electric motors, which is expected to rise as Indonesia’s local manufacturing grows.

Given energy-efficient motors’ ability to consume less electricity when performing a task, and transitioning global motor stock to modern, efficient models would have major environmental and social benefits. Higher efficiency motors offer a win-win solution.

Indonesia’s rapid industrial and economic growth is increasing the demand for commercial and industrial equipment. This makes improving the efficiency of motors embedded in pumps, fans, compressors, and conveyors a priority for national policy. However, there is limited information about the country’s current domestic motor market to guide policy development.

CLASP aims to fill this gap through a detailed market assessment of electric motors. The study will quantify the market’s size and composition, including motor sizes, brands, and efficiency levels, of Indonesia’s motor market and provide policymakers with reliable data to develop new national efficiency policies. This assessment is being conducted in coordination with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (EBTKE), and key motor brands and associations, including ABB, Siemens, TEKO, and Grundfos.

Motors are the invisible heartbeat to economic progress. They are found across industrial facilities, powering production lines for goods like metals, paper, cement, textiles, and packaged food and beverages. Energy efficient motors and their associated components are key tools to enable economic growth, but inefficient ones can hinder progress via high energy demand and associated costs.

Efficient motors systems offer a golden opportunity for all countries –from existing economic powerhouses to newly industrializing nations– to expand and thrive in global markets while simultaneously slashing energy costs and emissions.

Industrial motors, like those found in factories, are part of a system of several components. When evaluating efficiency, governments and the private sector must look at and address the whole system, from power source to mechanical output. These systems are responsible for powering many recognizable factory features like conveyer belts and air compressors.

Without intervention to ramp up efficiency, motor systems will account for 25% of global energy demand and 33% of global energy related emissions by 2050.

And these inefficiencies are expensive: continued use of outdated motor systems will be responsible for $9 trillion of lost GDP in 2050.

Outdated and inefficient motors represent two-thirds of today’s global stock. These motors can last upwards of 15 years, locking countries into a future of high energy consumption, unnecessary emissions, and strained power grids.

Increasing the market share of efficient motor systems for all economies offers significant and sustained benefits. A timely transition will require leaders to push the boundaries on policymaking and financing.

Heavily industrialized countries, like China and the European Union, need to replace existing inefficient motor stock with the most efficient IE5 compliant technologies and pair them with variable speed drives to achieve the biggest cost and climate benefits. This move can be catalyzed by ambitious efficiency policy and will require significant financing support from sources like industrial banks.

In countries where manufacturing is expected to grow significantly, with commensurate increase in motor stock, like Nigeria and Indonesia, quick government action to incentivize or require efficient motor systems in new factories will prevent runaway emissions and costs from the start. External financial support and mechanisms, like subsidies and bulk procurement, will be critical for supporting emerging industry.

In recent years, Brazil has taken initial steps toward a more sustainable future powered by energy efficiency. As the host of COP30, held in Belém in November, Brazil put a spotlight on this smart climate solution for the world to see.

The country is already a global leader in sustainable energy, generating 89% of its electricity with renewables. However, rapidly rising energy demand and decreased hydropower capacity are forcing policymakers and utilities to reevaluate the current energy mix.

Global warming and Brazil’s deep income inequality further complicate this challenge. For example, Brazil’s summers are growing hotter; in 2023, the country hit a new record temperature of 112.6° F (44.8° C). As a result, air conditioning, once considered a luxury, is becoming necessary for health and productivity. But today, air conditioning is found in only 20% of all homes, concentrated mainly in higher-income households.

The challenges lower-income Brazilians face in accessing energy services like air conditioning are reflected in the fact that almost half of the lowest-income Brazilians spend more than half of their household income on electricity and gas.

In October 2025, CLASP was invited to join policymakers, manufacturers, retailers, civil society representatives, and market surveillance authorities at the European Commission’s implementation dialogue on energy-efficient product legislation.

Hosted by Commissioner for Energy and Housing Dan Jørgensen, the discussion focused on how to strengthen the implementation, enforcement, and real-world impact of the European Union’s (EU) product efficiency policies.

During the dialogue, Nicole Kearney, the director of CLASP’s Europe program, highlighted that ambitious ecodesign and energy labeling policies drive progress far beyond the EU’s borders. Drawing on CLASP’s global experience and collaboration with policymakers, she noted how countries like Australia, Brazil, China, India, and South Africa often look to EU policies as models for their own frameworks—or even adopt them directly.

“The European Union sets the pace for global progress on energy and climate through product efficiency,” Kearney said. “Every step forward in Brussels accelerates action worldwide, and every delay slows it down.”

This report, “Making the Switch: The Deployment Handbook for Institutional eCookers,” conducted by Efficiency for Access in partnership with the Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) programme, aims to inform practitioners seeking advice on the design, deployment, and operation of commercially available institutional eCooking technologies and provide actionable recommendations for scaling eCooking in institutions in Kenya. This guide covers commercially available institutional eCooking technologies designed for both on- and off-grid applications. It provides:

• An overview of the current state of eCooking in institutions in Kenya
• Step-by-step advice for the pre-assessment, planning, installation, and commissioning of eCooking solutions
• Opportunities to scale the adoption of institutional eCooking

Download “Making the Switch: The Deployment Handbook for Institutional eCookers” to access key findings, recommendations, and guidance on electric cookers in institutional settings.

About Efficiency for Access

Efficiency for Access is a global coalition dedicated to advancing access to energy and affordable, energy-efficient appliances in underserved communities. It is a catalyst for change, accelerating access to off- and weak-grid appliances that boost incomes, avoid carbon emissions, improve quality of life, and support sustainable development. The coalition is co-chaired by UK aid from the UK government via the Transforming Energy Access platform and the IKEA Foundation.

About the MECS programme

Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) is an eleven-year research programme funded by UK Aid (FCDO). MECS is a geographically diverse, multicultural, and transdisciplinary team working in close partnership with NGOs, governments, the private sector, academia, research institutes, policy representatives, and communities in 16 countries of interest to accelerate a transition from biomass to genuinely ‘clean’ cooking.

In seeking to spark a new approach to clean cooking, the MECS programme researches the socio-economic realities of a transition from polluting fuels to a range of modern fuels. Whilst the research covers several clean fuels, the evidence is pointing to the viability, cost-effectiveness, and user satisfaction that energy-efficient electric cooking devices provide. Significant progress has been made in access to electricity in the last decade, but these gains are sometimes disconnected from the enduring problem of clean cooking. By integrating modern energy cooking services into the planning for electricity access, quality, reliability and sustainability, MECS hopes to leverage investment in renewable energies (both grid and off-grid) to address the clean cooking challenge.