Net Zero Appliances NDC Toolkit
This toolkit helps governments incorporate climate-friendly targets for appliance efficiency into Nationally Determined Contributions to the Paris Agreement.
Learn how (and why) to maximize the potential of appliance efficiency in NDCs.
Table of Contents
How to Use This Toolkit
Appliance efficiency is a critical, but often overlooked, climate mitigation solution. This toolkit explains why it matters and provides clear instructions for incorporating it into the next round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), due in 2025.
Use this toolkit to:
- discover the many benefits a stronger focus on appliance efficiency can deliver
- source recommendations for including appliance efficiency in NDCs 3.0
- learn how appliance efficiency has been included in current NDCs and view two illustrative examples of how it could be included in NDCs 3.0
- download a printable fact sheet containing a summary of the benefits that appliance efficiency can deliver in your country.
Reach Out for Support
If you are a policymaker who needs assistance incorporating appliance efficiency into an NDC, reach out to CLASP for support: ndcs@clasp.ngo.
Table of Contents
Benefits of Net-Zero Appliances
Efficient appliances, lighting, and equipment are vital climate solutions. Appliance efficiency offers a proven, cost-effective means of reducing energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, improving climate resilience, and promoting sustainable development.
Efficient appliances deliver a broad range of benefits aligned with the needs and priorities of many countries. Meeting ambitious energy efficiency targets for ten common appliances—air conditioners, fans, electric cooking appliances, electric motors, televisions, refrigerators, lighting, solar irrigation, space heating equipment, and water heating equipment—would yield significant results:
- 9.2 gigatons of CO2 emissions avoided globally in 2050—equal to the combined greenhouse gas emissions of the United States, the European Union, and Türkiye in 2021
- 1.5 trillion USD in utility bill savings globally in 2050—equal to the GDP of Spain in 2021
- reduced demand for fossil fuels, making it easier to transition to renewable energy
- reduced demand for new power generation capacity, freeing up resources for investment in other development priorities such as education and health
- less strain on electric grids due to reduced electricity demand—and thus easier integration of renewable energy resources
- reduced air pollution and a cleaner environment from lower demand for fossil fuels
- better human health, improved food security, and increased productivity since reduced operating costs can make appliances accessible to more people
- expanded access to refrigeration and air conditioning, which are critical energy services in a warming world
Download country fact sheets for summaries of the projected benefits that increased appliance efficiency could deliver in specific countries.
Why appliances? Appliances and equipment make up nearly 40% of all energy-related CO2 emissions, yet most countries don‘t mention them in their NDCs.
At COP28, as part of the outcome of the first global stocktake (GST), parties to the Paris Climate Agreement agreed to “doubling the global average annual rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030.” This part of the UAE Consensus was championed earlier in the 2023 Versailles Statement and in the COP28 Global Renewables and Energy Efficiency Pledge.
Appliances are responsible for nearly 40% of energy-related emissions globally. Thus, governments need to focus on appliances to achieve the efficiency-doubling goal.
Appliance efficiency can deliver. The necessary policies are proven and cost-effective and can show results within the next decade. They have a long track record of success, achieving many megatons of CO2 emissions reductions.
Appliance efficiency should be a key part of every country’s NDC, yet fewer than half of NDCs mention appliances. The remainder of this toolkit explains how to include appliance efficiency in NDCs.
Now is the time for countries to turn global commitments into national action by doubling down on appliance efficiency.
Recommendations for Drafting NDCs
Parties to the Paris Agreement are encouraged to double the rate of efficiency improvement globally and to strengthen the 2030 targets in their nationally determined contributions by the end of 2024. The recommendations below contain actionable steps that governments can take to integrate appliance energy efficiency into their revised NDCs.
Before drafting:
Identify the ministries responsible for appliance energy efficiency, which may include those in charge of:
- energy
- industry
- housing/buildings
- trade
- environment
Review the current NDC and note the following:
- mentions of appliances and equipment (e.g., lighting, air conditioners, and industrial electric motors) and supporting policies (e.g., energy performance standards, labeling requirements, market transformation programs, and incentives)
- specific targets or goals for appliances or appliance energy efficiency
- synergies with stated climate resilience, adaptation, and sustainable development priorities such as clean energy, cooling access, job creation, and economic development
Consult the ministries responsible for appliance energy efficiency to:
- Understand the appliance sector, including current and projected ownership levels and energy use.
- Take note of current and future appliance energy efficiency priorities and how they relate to national climate change, economic growth, and development goals.
- Assess how appliance efficiency contributes to current NDC and national energy efficiency targets and greenhouse gas accounting mechanisms.
- Model energy-saving and greenhouse gas mitigation opportunities in the appliances sector.
While drafting:
Acknowledge that increasing the efficiency of appliances and equipment is critical for meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement and other near-term climate commitments. Consider including the following points:
- Energy efficiency policies can double or triple the rate of appliance efficiency improvement, making them key to meeting the doubling target in the UAE Consensus and Global Renewables and Energy Efficiency Pledge.
- Meeting targets for the ten appliances most critical to meeting net zero globally—fans, air conditioners, electric cooking appliances, electric motors, lighting, televisions, refrigerators, solar irrigation, space heating equipment, and water heating equipment—could mitigate 9.2 gigatons of CO2 in 2050 alone.
Ten priority appliances: Fans, ACs, e-cookers, electric motors, lighting, TVs, refrigerators, solar irrigation, space heaters, and water heaters
Highlight the cost-effectiveness and cross-cutting benefits of appliance energy efficiency investments.
- Affordability: Longstanding appliance efficiency policies are cost effective, with financial benefits four times greater than the costs.
- Resilience and adaptation benefits: Increased efficiency can expand access to cooling, information, and income-generating activities by reducing the total cost of appliance ownership and making appliances more affordable.
- Connections to UN Sustainable Development Goals: Appliances and equipment are critical to reaching 12 of 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.
- Equity benefits: First-time appliance ownership can expand energy access, thereby raising productivity, incomes, and health outcomes for marginalized groups like women, children, and poor and rural households.
Identify priority appliances and equipment in order to define clear efficiency improvement targets.
- When determining which appliances to prioritize, consider products with high mitigation potential. See CLASP’s country fact sheets to learn which appliances could reduce the most emissions in different nations.
- When selecting targets, consider aligning them with existing pledges such as the Global Renewables and Energy Efficiency Pledge and the SEAD Product Efficiency Call to Action or existing appliance efficiency targets like those in CLASP’s Net Zero Heroes report.
Discuss the policies, financing, and/or reporting requirements needed to meet appliance efficiency targets, including:
- appliance efficiency policies such as energy performance standards, labeling requirements, financial incentives, and bulk procurement. See Net Zero Heroes for a summary of policies
- information about how policies and programs will be funded or how much funding is needed
- monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) mechanisms to track progress. IEA’s Evaluation Guidebook explains how to evaluate the impact of appliance efficiency policies
Example NDC Language
CLASP has prepared sample language to show how governments could revise their NDCs following the recommendations above.
Below are two illustrative examples designed for hypothetical countries. Governments are welcome to borrow applicable language when drafting their NDC.
Country A
- Population: 87 million people
- Emissions: 18 megatons CO2
- Per capita emissions: 0.21 tons CO2
- GDP: 98 billion USD in 2023
- Per capita GDP: 1,126 USD
- Per capita electricity consumption: 110 kWh
- Energy demand growth: 12% per year until 2030
- Household electricity access: 53%
- Household clean cooking access: 38%
- Household appliance access: Refrigerator—36%, TV—47%, AC—10%
- Needs: Expand energy access, leapfrog to clean electric appliances, increase resilience in vulnerable communities, and constrain future emissions growth
Example NDC Language
“Appliance energy efficiency will play a critical role in delivering Country A’s climate change mitigation, climate resilience, and sustainable development agenda over the next ten years. Efficiency policies are a cost-effective climate mitigation solution that has been shown to double or triple the rate of efficiency improvement in new appliances and equipment over time. More efficient appliances can also be catalysts for expanded energy access and sustainable development and can play an important role in building climate resilience. In communities with no or limited access to the electric grid, efficient appliances enable households to maximize the use of distributed energy resources. Solar-powered equipment like solar water pumps can also be used to enhance drought resilience by enabling smallholder farmers to access groundwater supply more efficiently and boost farmer productivity and incomes, allowing them to be more financially resilient. In grid-connected areas, efficiency can lower the cost of ownership, making critical appliances like air conditioners accessible to more people.
Appliances and equipment energy consumption in the buildings and industrial sectors represented 11% of all CO2 emissions in Country A in 2023. Their impact is expected to increase as Country A’s economy develops and more households gain access to electricity. By prioritizing appliance energy efficiency, Country A can curb appliance-related emissions while expanding access to the products needed to improve resilience among the most vulnerable communities.
Between 2025 and 2035, Country A aims to double the efficiency of new air conditioners, refrigerators, and lighting through appliance efficiency policies (i.e., energy performance standards and labeling policies). Achieving these targets would avoid 0.85 megatons of CO2 in 2035 and 1.36 megatons of CO2 in 2050. Conditional upon available financing, Country A may develop incentives to lower the first cost of appliances, making them more affordable to a greater share of the population. Country A also plans to expand access to energy-efficient appliances in communities with no or limited access to the electric grid by providing 500 million USD in consumer financing and 100 million USD to expand local jobs in the solar irrigation sector, conditional upon available financing.”
Country B
- Population: 50 million people
- Emissions: 250 megatons CO2
- Per capita emissions: 5.0 tons CO2
- GDP: 1.3 trillion USD
- Per capita GDP: 26,000 USD
- Per capita electricity consumption: 4,750 kWh
- Energy demand growth: 2.8% per year until 2030
- Household electricity access: 100%
- Household clean cooking access: 100%
- Household appliance access: Refrigerator—98%, TV—99%, AC—75%
- Needs: Lower emissions, decarbonize key sectors, retire inefficient appliances, and increase resilience in vulnerable communities
Example NDC Language
“Country B intends to significantly improve the energy efficiency of new appliances and equipment by 2035. This goal aligns with the UAE Consensus and the Global Renewables and Energy Efficiency Pledge, which target a collective global doubling of the rate of energy efficiency improvement. Appliance energy efficiency policies (i.e., energy performance standards and labeling policies) have been shown to improve the average rate of energy efficiency improvement by two to three times while making appliances more affordable and less costly to operate. Improved affordability can make critical cooling appliances like fans and air conditioners more accessible to a greater share of the population, improving climate resilience.
Country B will update and expand appliance energy efficiency policies (i.e., minimum energy performance standards and labeling requirements) for high-energy consuming products—starting with lighting, space cooling equipment, and industrial electric motor-driven systems—and expand government-backed procurement and incentives to accelerate the uptake of more energy-efficient heat pumps and industrial electric motors. Country B aims to phase out all fluorescent lighting by 2027, double the efficiency of new air conditioners by 2030, and set new minimum efficiency requirements of new industrial electric motors at efficiency class IE3 or above. Country B will develop a net-zero roadmap for the appliances sector to identify important milestones and establish systems for tracking progress.”
Appliances in Existing NDCs
Governments are required to submit NDCs to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat to be recorded in a public registry every five years under Article 4, paragraph 12 of the Paris Agreement. Forty-seven countries mention appliances or appliance energy efficiency in their current or previous NDCs. These mentions vary in terms of specificity, the scope of products included, and the policies needed to reduce appliance-related CO2 emissions.
The examples below are just a sample, selected to show the variety of ways appliances have been included in NDCs. They are intended to showcase the range of NDCs rather than highlight exceptional targets or model what an exemplary NDC should look like. This list is not exhaustive. To see a full list of countries mentioning appliances in NDCs, view CLASP’s Appliance Efficiency in NDCs report.
Barbados
In its first revised NDC, Barbados highlights its participation in CARICOM (an intergovernmental organization and political and economic union of governments throughout the Americas, Caribbean, and Atlantic Ocean) and emphasizes its commitment to delivering the CARICOM Caribbean Sustainable Energy Roadmap and Strategy, which prioritizes demand-side management and energy performance standards for high-energy consuming products, including air conditioners, refrigerators, and lighting.
Benin
In its first NDC, Benin states that it will: expand energy performance standards for lighting, air conditioners, refrigerators, and freezers; require new public buildings to take energy-saving measures into account; launch public information campaigns about appliance energy efficiency; and implement a program for improving industrial energy efficiency.
Cambodia
Cambodia’s first revised NDC sets a measurable target for appliance energy efficiency. Within the residential and commercial buildings sector, the government plans to reduce energy demand by 1.3 TWh in 2030 through labeling and energy performance standards. In the industrial and commercial buildings sector, Cambodia intends to reduce 2.3% of electricity consumption in 2030 through the use of energy-efficient motors and boilers.
Canada
Canada’s first revised NDC notes that buildings and building electricity use for lighting, cooling, and other appliances account for 18% of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. Its NDC commits billions of dollars to building retrofits that will enable greater investments in energy-efficient appliances and equipment while promoting electrification.
Why appliances? Improving appliance efficiency would help meet 12 of 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Chile
In its first revised NDC, Chile indicated that it would use efficiency performance standards to regulate industrial electric motors up to 100 horsepower. It also included several efficiency and electrification goals within the industrial sector, including motor electrification within the industrial and mining sectors and the use of energy management systems.
India
India’s first NDC emphasizes its track record of energy efficiency and calls out its long-running appliance standards and labeling program as well as its market transformation program for lighting. The government aims to improve energy efficiency within the industrial, transportation, buildings, and appliance sectors.
Malawi
Malawi’s first NDC notes that it will mechanize agricultural production with a focus on smallholder farmers. The NDC says that these efforts will promote decentralized solar solutions and energy efficiency.
Nigeria
In Nigeria, the largest market for cooling in Africa, the government’s first revised NDC outlines how it will transition to using refrigerants with low global warming potential in air conditioners through appliance efficiency standards and labels. The document also notes that Nigeria plans to develop new targets for cooling efficiency in subsequent NDC revisions and that it intends to create a national cooling plan focused on buildings.
Vietnam
Vietnam’s first revised NDC indicates that it will promote the use of more efficient lighting, refrigeration, and air conditioning. The NDC also notes that the country will implement measures to improve energy efficiency in industry.
Country Fact Sheets
Explore the climate, energy, and economic benefits of net-zero appliances at the national level.
Each fact sheet contains estimates of the climate, energy, and economic benefits of appliance efficiency in that country based on CLASP’s Net Zero Hero policy scenario presented in our 2023 Net Zero Heroes report. Governments can use these fact sheets to promote the inclusion of net zero appliance targets in NDCs.
Click on a country name in the table below to download the fact sheet (PDF) for that country.
Additional Resources
The following resources provide in-depth information to guide policymakers in developing NDCs.
- Net Zero Heroes: Scaling Efficient Appliances for Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation & Resilience
CLASP report defining near-term efficiency targets for ten key appliances and the actions needed to achieve them.
- Net Zero Appliances Case Studies
Case studies offering examples of appliance energy efficiency policies and programs in action.
- Appliance Efficiency in NDCs: Tracking Changes in Nationally Determined Contributions to the Paris Climate Agreement
CLASP report discussing appliances in existing NDCs.
- Mepsy: The Appliance & Equipment Climate Impact Calculator
CLASP tool for understanding the climate and energy impacts of appliance policies in 162 countries.
- CLASP Policy Resource Center
Database containing over 1,500 examples of appliance policies from more than 130 countries.
- World’s Best MEPS: Tracking Leaders in Appliance Energy Efficiency Standards
CLASP webpage showing the world’s most stringent energy performance standards for lighting, electric motors, air conditioners, refrigerators, water heaters, and space heating equipment.
- Getting Appliances Back on Track: Assessing Progress Towards Global Energy Efficiency Commitments
CLASP report on progress toward doubling the efficiency of air conditioners, electric motors, lighting, and refrigerators.
- NDC 3.0 Navigator
NDC Partnership tool showing how countries can strengthen NDCs submitted in 2025.
- Credible Contributions: Bolder Plans for Higher Climate Ambition in the Next Round of NDCs
Energy Transitions Commission insights briefing showing how industry and government collaboration can raise ambition in NDCs.
- Mission Efficiency
A global coalition of governments, organizations, and initiatives driving progress on energy efficiency. Read the Mission Efficiency Energy Efficiency Playbook of Key Actions and submit a Mission Efficiency Pledge to share how you intend to achieve the efficiency targets included in your NDC 3.0.
- WWF Checklist for the NDCs We Want
The World Wide Fund for Nature’s checklist of the 24 criteria it will use to rate NDCs 3.0.
- Energy Efficiency Policy Toolkit 2024
IEA toolkit showing how policy packages can combine regulations, information, and incentives to achieve the global target of doubling the pace of energy efficiency progress by 2030.
- IEA Appliance Energy Efficiency Policy Training Course
A comprehensive 25-hour, 7-module course on the fundamentals of designing and implementing energy efficiency policy packages.
