Policymakers in Brazil have increased the minimum efficiency required for air conditioners marketed as top-performing appliances with the PROCEL Seal. This endorsement label revision will take effect in 2022 and better inform consumer purchasing toward high-efficiency ACs.

While use of label is voluntary, most manufacturers opt to participate since several procurement programs require that purchases bear the PROCEL Seal. Prior to this revision, more than 70% of the ACs in the national market met the highest efficiency standard and consequently displayed the seal. As a result, buyers were left without a clear differentiation of product performance and manufacturers had little incentive to produce better quality products.

Brazil’s PROCEL Seal is applied to all ACs that meet the top ‘A’ class requirements under the comparative label. In July 2020, INMETRO introduced a new scale for the comparative label that will more than double the stringency of energy labeling criteria over the next five years. In order to accurately endorse the new ‘A’ class, policymakers aligned the PROCEL Seal with INMETRO’s new criteria—adopting a similarly phased approach to ratchet stringency over the coming years. PROCEL further established the ‘GOLD’ seal, a new, more stringent version of the label that will endorse the highest performing ACs within the ‘A’ class.

CLASP, in collaboration with the Instituto Clima e Sociedade’s (iCS) Kigali Network, supported revisions to both the comparative and endorsement labels through technical assessment of the market, stakeholders, and policy options. In November 2019, CLASP facilitated a roundtable event that brought together representatives from Brazil, Europe, India and China to share best practices in endorsement labeling for cooling technologies. Representatives from PROCEL and the Brazilian Metrology Institute (INMETRO) integrated takeaways from the workshop in their final policy recommendations.

Both seals will also distinguish ACs according to refrigerant criteria—requiring the use of chemicals with little to no impact on the climate. Reducing the use of chemicals with high global warming and ozone depleting potential is an international best practice, aligning with the Montreal Protocol and Kigali Amendment.

In an August 5 webinar, Brazilian policymakers participated in a panel discussion with leaders from China and India where they discussed their approaches to AC regulation and lessons learned. Watch the event here.