Background: At the time of Colombia’s project submission, greenhouse gas emissions from the refrigeration sector were significant at 4.5 Mt CO2e (2014) and were on a trajectory to double by 2030. The emissions were driven by the high use of Global Warming Potential refrigerants and high energy consumption.
Approach to Transformational Change: The project “Colombia – Domestic Refrigeration Sector” addressed and support the following measures: a) a ban of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), b) the application of Minimum Efficiency Performance Standards in the domestic refrigeration sector, c) production line conversions using hydrocarbon refrigerants instead of HFC and changed product design to improve energy efficiency, d) an innovative replacement program including a sustainable on-bill financing mechanism with incentives for low-income households when old-inefficient appliances are returned and e) implementation of a sustainable extended producer responsibility scheme by which producers and importers are given end-of-life responsibility for domestic refrigerators.
As part of its financial mechanism, the project established a) concessional credit lines for producers to finance the conversion of their production lines that blend funds from Bancóldex and the project and b) a substitution scheme for old refrigerators that provided a 50% grant component to cover replacement and handling costs to be paid by the retailers and/or manufacturers.
The project brought over 1.2 million new fridges to the Colombian market and through the transformation of production processes, has allowed producers to not only sell domestically, but also export the greener fridges that use natural refrigerants across Latin America. Furthermore, the project updated Colombia’s energy efficiency standards and introduced a national labelling scheme for all domestic fridges, to better inform consumers. Valuable insights were gained from the substitution scheme which went onto inform later projects that attempt to incentivise the adequate disposal of electronic waste.
Visit the project’s official website [available in Spanish] to learn more about it.
