In June 2012, the China National Institute of Standardization (CNIS) initiated a consumer awareness campaign displaying large-scale informative posters in ten Beijing subway stations.

The posters explain the China Energy Label’s scale – green for most efficient; red for least – and encourage consumers to “Beat the Energy Tiger at Home.” Beijing’s metro is the busiest and most crowded in the world. The posters were displayed for four weeks, with an estimated 45 million passenger views or more.

The campaign – a collaborative effort between CLASP and the China Sustainable Energy Program (CSEP) – was launched in response to a CLASP-supported study indicating low overall consumer comprehension of the China Energy Label. The study found that while 61.5% of surveyed consumers have seen the comparative label and can recognize it, only 18.3% have a deeper understanding of the label and use it to make purchasing decisions.

The Chinese government, which has implemented the comparative energy label for over 25 products, is committed to increasing public awareness and comprehension of the label in order to pull the Chinese market to higher levels of efficiency. This campaign marks China’s first significant effort to promote and deepen understanding of the comparative energy labeling program since its launch in 2005.

Mr. Lu Wenbin, Director of the Energy Efficiency Department of the China National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), which oversees energy efficiency policies in China, participated in the campaign’s opening ceremony on June 2nd to express his strong support of the campaign.

CLASP’s China team, in collaboration with CSEP, will assess the campaign’s impacts and work with CNIS to expand the initiative to a national scale.