CLASP shows how efficient, high-quality appliances alleviate energy poverty and promote sustainable development—positively impacting billions of people. Efficient appliances are also a vital climate solution as they are a proven, cost-effective means of reducing climate emissions, improving resilience for climate-vulnerable communities.

Living without access to electricity is still a reality for more than 675 million people worldwide. This energy poverty has detrimental effects on health, productivity, and livelihoods. To tackle this, CLASP drives technology innovation and catalyzes appliance market growth, putting efficient, affordable, high-quality appliances and equipment within reach of low-income families and communities, as well as smallholder farmers.

CLASP’s landmark Net Zero Heroes report showed that the appliance sector accounts for nearly 40% of global energy-related CO₂ emissions. Improving appliance efficiency is a proven, cost-effective solution to slash emissions.

To share these solutions and advance discussions, CLASP will attend the 2025 Sustainable Energy for All Forum (SEforALL Global Forum) on 12 and 13 March to showcase how efficient appliances are pivotal for climate action and sustainable development.

See where our experts will speak and join us in supercharging appliance efficiency.

For questions or additional speaking opportunities, please contact Stella Madete (smadete@clasp.ngo)

Electric motors transform electrical energy into mechanical energy, powering everything from household appliances to equipment in commercial buildings and industrial facilities. They are essential components of electric motor-driven systems (EMDS), which currently account for around 30% of global electricity demand¹.

Industrial motors, in particular, are the main drivers behind increasing global demand for electricity², with approximately 65% of industry’s electricity consumption powering motor-driven systems³. Yet, despite their crucial role, many motors and motor systems are outdated and inefficient. The International Energy Agency reports that low efficiency motors represent two-thirds of the current global stock⁴. This contributes heavily to energy waste and increasing carbon emissions.

Looking ahead, CLASP’s initiatives in China, the European Union, India, and the United States aim to avoid up to nine gigatons of CO₂ emissions by 2050.

Improving the energy efficiency of electric motors and EMDS presents significant potential for reducing electricity demand and curbing carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. By partnering with national stakeholders to raise standards, implementing replacement incentive programs, and promoting cross-sector collaboration, CLASP is driving global efforts to unlock this potential.

CLASP’s global efforts to make motors more efficient

In Brazil, a partnership between CLASP and the Ministry of Mines and Energy is paving the way for an ambitious new regulatory agenda. This aims to establish the country’s first-ever efficiency standards for pumps and air compressors by 2027. Setting minimum efficiency standards helps phase out the least efficient models and prevents businesses from getting stuck with outdated, energy-wasting technologies. CLASP will continue working closely with the Ministry to help ensure the timely completion of the regulatory agenda and the implementation of key policies in the next two years.

Meanwhile, China is making significant strides in industrial efficiency and the potential benefits of improving motor efficiency are immense. Motors represent 55% of the country’s total energy consumption and 75% of its industrial energy use⁵. Since 2023, CLASP has supported the China National Institute of Standardization in developing two new efficiency standards for high-voltage induction motors and permanent magnet synchronous motors. These new standards are expected to cut 920 megatons of CO₂ emissions by 2040. They will also position China as the first country to adopt a policy exceeding the world’s most energy-efficient motor standard, IE5, setting a new benchmark for global industrial standards.

Motors account for over 50% of India’s industrial electricity consumption⁶. CLASP is supporting the Bureau of Energy Efficiency in strengthening efficiency standards for three-phase induction motors and providing technical assistance for a new labeling program for single-phase induction motors to meet growing demand. Together, the labeling programs for three-phase and single-phase induction motors are expected to save approximately 30.1 terawatt hours of electricity and reduce 23.83 megatons of CO₂ emissions, contributing significantly to India’s energy efficiency and climate goals.

CLASP, in partnership with SAMA^Verte, is helping build a competitive, sustainable motor industry in Pakistan. Through the Industry Accelerator program, local manufacturers gain access to technical expertise and resources to produce high-efficiency components for electric motors. The program strengthens the local manufacturing sector by reducing dependency on imports and enabling businesses to expand their market share. For industries that rely on these motors, the shift toward high-efficiency components translates into lower energy costs and reduced emissions. By 2050, the program is expected to reduce 12.8 megatons of CO₂ emissions and improve motor efficiency by 10%.

These initiatives, along with CLASP’s upcoming projects in other countries, will help reduce global energy consumption, increase industrial energy efficiency, and support industry in shifting to more environmentally-friendly processes. CLASP collaborates with policymakers, industry leaders, and other experts to create a more sustainable future for people and the planet.

Are you interested in driving industrial innovation in your region? Connect with CLASP to explore collaboration opportunities.

Brazil’s energy demand is growing fast. The national grid is currently being stretched to its limits. This is linked to increasing demand for energy intensive services like cooling in the face of high temperatures and frequent heat waves.

Brazil needs a climate-friendly, people-positive solution to keep emissions down while also supplying the energy needed to serve its growing population. In late 2024, CLASP and national policymakers visited the Itaipu hydropower dam in Foz de Iguaçu to learn more about the history of Brazil’s renewable energy sector and reflect on how appliance energy efficiency could relieve the strain on Brazil’s grid.

Brazil is powered by renewable energy

Brazil has been a global leader in sustainable energy with 89% of its energy coming from renewables. The country utilizes a diverse energy mix to power itself, including a high reliance on renewables like hydropower and wind. Itaipu is one of the largest hydropower dams in the world, providing Brazil with 8% of its energy and Paraguay with 98%. The plant took nearly ten years to build and has been in operation since 1984. It is a marvel of modern engineering – towering over the surrounding nature and stretching over eight kilometres long. Just one of its 20 rotors produces 700 megawatts of power a day – enough electricity to serve 30 million people.

With demand expected to rise by 3.5% by 2029, Brazil needs to reevaluate its current energy mix to ensure services stay available to all grid-connected communities and are extended to many who are still off the grid. Currently, the country’s hydropower capacity is forecasted to drop by a staggering 15% in the decade from 2019 to 2029 due to drier, warmer conditions caused by the climate crisis. To fill this gap and address additional demand, Brazil has proposed increasing its methane use by 300% by 2029. This move would slow or even reverse the country’s progress toward Net Zero targets.

The most efficient energy is the energy not used

Instead of expanding fossil fuel infrastructure and locking-in future fossil fuel reliance, Brazil can leverage the proven, cost-effective solution that is hiding in plain sight: energy efficiency.

Improving the energy efficiency of the appliances Brazilians use every day will slash the national emissions and energy demand, while also reducing energy costs for households and propel Brazil’s appliance manufacturers into the global marketplace.

Brazil could be a global efficiency role model

As the host of the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP30, Brazil has a unique opportunity to be a global role model – showcasing effective, accessible energy efficiency solutions.

To prioritize appliance energy efficiency for climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience at this pivotal moment is to prioritize a cleaner, healthier future for generations to come. CLASP is working directly with Brazilian regulators across industrial, environmental, and energy agencies, in collaboration with industry partners, to advance appliance efficiency at speed and at scale.

Brazil is one of the only countries in the world that produces the vast majority of the appliances sold on its domestic market. By implementing more ambitious energy efficiency standards that meet, or even exceed, global benchmarks, Brazil could bring its industrial power to the global market.

In addition to growing Brazil’s global appliance market share – thereby increasing local jobs and revenue – a move towards production of more efficient appliances would yield other benefits like reduced energy demand on national power grids and lower electricity bills for consumers.

Efficiency standards are a tool for industrialization

Ambitious efficiency policy spurs an improved manufacturing ecosystem, making the production of outdated products obsolete. Currently, Brazil’s appliance efficiency policies do not match the ambition of minimum energy efficiency standards of many nations, including potential trading partners like Argentina, the European Union, Kenya, Mexico, and the United States. As a result, Brazil’s appliances cannot enter these lucrative markets, while competitors from other countries reap economic and industrial benefits.

Appliance efficiency signals a readiness for investment

At the 2024 Clean Energy Ministerial in Fos do Iguassu, Brazil, CLASP Senior Director of Climate, Ana Maria Carreño explained, “Appliance efficiency policy signals to the private sector that it’s a good time to invest in industry, resulting in increased availability of more efficient appliances and benefits for industry, the country, and consumers.”

Brazil is already witnessing the impacts of this positive cycle. Following the country’s refrigerator policy revisions in 2021 and 2023, leading manufacturer, Midea, invested $122 million USD in a new factory in Brazil to produce efficient refrigerators. At the same time, companies already operating in Brazil – like Electrolux, Esmaltec, and Whirlpool – injected tens of millions of dollars into their manufacturing operations to upgrade production lines and enable production of more efficient refrigerators.

CLASP collaborating to chart Brazil’s path forward

CLASP is working alongside multi-sectoral partners to outline what a feasible and fruitful national transition to more efficient appliances would entail. Progressive industry and government have revealed a willingness to collaborate in pursuit of a larger market reach and better Brazilian-made products. Some local utilities are also considering incentive-based programs in to back ambitious industrial policies driving the availability of quality, efficient appliances. This will go a long way to reduce climate emissions and improve lives.

Brazil is one of the world’s most unequal countries, with 24% of the population living in poverty as of 2022. Millions of people in the dense, low-income communities known as favelas struggle to access the energy needed to keep their lights on, forcing many to turn to dangerous, illegal alternatives like electricity theft.

Inequalities in Brazilian energy access are glaring. Basic services like cooling and cooking are becoming increasingly cost prohibitive to households with fewer resources. Getting affordable, efficient appliances into the hands of more Brazilians is critical to protecting the country’s health, productivity, and economic sustainability.

Take refrigeration, for example. According to recent UN data, about a third of Brazilians face moderate or severe food insecurity. Putting more efficient refrigerators on the market can reduce energy bills, promote food security, and drive appliance affordability.

Understanding the importance of this opportunity, Brazil’s government revised its refrigerator minimum efficiency policy in 2023 with technical support from CLASP.

Efficiency drives affordability

While the new policy was being debated, appliance manufacturers implemented a mass media campaign to stoke public fear. They claimed that removing the least-efficient refrigerators from the market would make refrigeration unaffordable to average Brazilians, predicting that all refrigerators would cost more than $1,000 USD under the new rule.

This proved to be far from the truth.

Within days of the refrigerator policy’s implementation, Brazilian manufacturer Esmaltec introduced a new, high-efficiency refrigerator listed for only $358 USD— well within the average historic price range. Whirlpool, Brazil’s largest manufacturer, also announced that its prices would not increase as a result of the policy.

Other nations that have passed ambitious new appliance policies have seen similar results. When a country raises its appliance energy efficiency levels, manufacturers are prompted to increase production of innovative technologies that meet the market’s new requirements. As production volumes increase, the upfront prices of more-efficient equipment like air conditioners, stoves, and lightbulbs drop as the market for these products becomes more competitive. The cost savings increase over an efficient appliance’s lifetime due to reduced energy use.

In Brazil, CLASP anticipates that this trend will extend to the full domestic refrigerator market. The new refrigerator policy is expected to save consumers an average of US$164 on electricity bills over the lifetime of the appliance.

Policymakers have proven tools on hand 

Energy labels and minimum efficiency policies are proven policymaking tools to reduce upfront appliance costs and cut household energy use. Brazil’s government has committed to improving appliance efficiency in the upcoming years — opening the floodgates for affordable, planet-friendly appliances for all Brazilians.

In 2024, CLASP is supporting Brazilian policymakers in developing minimum efficiency policy and labels for lighting, as well as the country’s first-ever minimum efficiency policies for commercial air conditioners and refrigerators.

CLASP’s report, Net Zero Heroes: Scaling Efficient Appliances for Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation & Resilience, offers ambitious efficiency targets for the most impactful appliances and equipment. Explore our recommendations here.