Partnership Between UNDP, Chinese Government and GEF to Promote Energy-Efficient CFC-Free Refrigerators a Success

Partnership Between UNDP, Chinese Government and GEF to Promote Energy-Efficient CFC-Free Refrigerators a Success

December 21, 2006

    BEIJING, Dec. 20 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- An
award-winning campaign to 
promote energy-efficient CFC-free refrigerators, which
dramatically increased 
the number of "green" refrigerators sold from
1,000 units in 1999 to 40 
million in 2005, came to a successful end after a five-year
campaign period.

    ( Logo:
http://www.xprn.com.cn:9080/xprn/sa/20061107113358-34.jpg
)

    The US$40 million project, entitled "Barrier
Removal for the Widespread 
Commercialization of Energy-Efficient CFC-free
Refrigerators in China" 
introduced innovative market incentives designed to
encourage refrigerator 
manufacturers and retailers to promote environmentally
friendly refrigerators 
and to encourage customers to purchase them. 

    "The explosive increase in household appliances in
China is leading to an 
explosive increase in carbon dioxide output.  The success
of this project 
demonstrates that it is possible to find creative solutions
that are both 
environmentally friendly and attractive to Chinese
consumers," said Kishan 
Khoday, team leader of Energy and Environment for the
United Nations 
Development Programme (UNDP) in China, at the closing
ceremony. 

    The project established a cash-incentive program by
rewarding those 
manufacturers and retailers who were the most successful at
producing and 
selling "green" refrigerators. The national
campaign drew wide participation 
from competing manufacturers and retailers.  Kelon and
Haier, two 
refrigerator manufacturers, and Huangshi Dongbei, a company
that produces 
components for refrigerators, will receive monetary prizes
as a result of 
their commercial push to promote "green"
refrigerators in China.

    China became the world's second largest refrigerator
manufacturer in 
1996, and ranks first in the world today.  In 1996, in 70%
of urban 
households, refrigerators alone accounted for approximately
half of daily 
residential electricity consumption.  Back then, the
refrigerators 
manufactured for the domestic market in China were
significantly less energy-
efficient than those used in developed countries. 
    The participation in the project of leading Chinese
refrigerator 
manufacturers resulted in an impressive 29% increase in the
weighted average 
efficiency of household refrigerators produced between 1999
and 2005.  There 
was a corresponding drop in C02 emissions of about 11
million tonnes by 2005, 
and this is projected to reach 42 million tonnes by 2010.

    About UNDP
    UNDP fosters human development to empower women and men
to build better 
lives in China. As the UN's development network, UNDP draws
on a world of 
experience to assist China in developing its own solutions
to the country's 
development challenges.  Through partnerships and
innovation, UNDP works to 
achieve the Millennium Development Goals and an equitable
Xiao Kang society 
by reducing poverty, strengthening the rule of law,
promoting environmental 
sustainability, and fighting HIV/AIDS. 
http://www.undp.org.cn 




    For more information, please contact:

     Ms. Zhang Wei
     Communications Officer
     UNDP China
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]



SOURCE  United Nations Development Programme