Cool Contributions fighting Climate Change II (C4II) implemented by GIZ on behalf of the International Climate Initiative of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV-IKI) provided a grant agreement to the Philippine Center for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development, Inc. (PCEPSDI) to update ecolabel criteria for refrigerators and freezers and establish a new ecolabel criterion for room air conditioners.
The grant kicked off its main activities on the second quarter of 2024 with the establishment of a technical committee from industry experts, the academe and key regulatory agencies responsible for cooling namely, the Department of Trade and Industry Bureau of Philippine Standards (BPS) for product safety, the Department of Energy (DOE) for product energy performance and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for the environmental aspects of cooling products considering its entire lifecycle, the residual impacts such as packaging and the choice of refrigerants.
The initial TC meeting and deliberation on the criteria started on 02 May 2024 at the PCEPSDI Conference Room in Quezon City. The second TC and criteria deliberation was held at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone on 15 May 2024 and the third TC was conducted at the DOE Energy Utilization and Management Bureau meeting room on 13 June 2024. The updated ecolabel criteria for refrigerators and freezers is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2024.
Once updated, local companies manufacturing and importing refrigerators and freezers are encouraged to apply their products for ecolabelling. Once proven that the product meets the criteria, the C4II project can support its certification bid.