Adopting smart energy efficiency policies is an essential strategy for achieving a sustainable future. At the First Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) in Washington, DC in July 2010, energy ministers from fourteen major economies pledged to join efforts to dramatically improve the energy efficiency of appliances and equipment – cutting energy waste, creating jobs, reducing pollution, and saving money for consumers around the world.

The Super-efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment (SEAD) initiative is the result of this pledge: a five-year, US$20 M initiative under the CEM and also a task group under the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation (IPEEC). SEAD fosters collaboration among its 16 participating governments to strengthen their standards and labeling programs to more quickly keep pace with technology innovation, as well as work together on incentives, prizes and procurement programs that can spur the development of superefficient devices.