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CHINA ENVIRONMENT SERIES · ISSUE 7
COMMENTARIES/NOTES FROM THE FIELD
By Gary McNeil and David Hathaway
information from others, product manuals, and
evaluations from manufacturer associations ranked lower
in importance.
Interestingly, the CECP survey revealed that the
Chinese consumers are confronted by an overload of
certifications and claims that they felt they could not trust.
Products often included claims and information from
organizations that were unfamiliar to consumers. Based
on these results, CECP decided to stress its state-
authorized certification authority in campaign messages.
For example, to emphasize these ideas, it developed a new
label tagline: Superior Energy Efficiency, Authorized
Certification (Gaoxiao jieneng, quanwei renzheng).
CECP’s experience suggests that government-backed
green labeling programs, or those with similar state
authority such as CECP’s program, may have the most
potential to influence the behavior of Chinese consumers.
Labeling Will Help China Meet Growing
Energy Demand
As the widespread brownouts along China’s east coast
in the summer of 2004 demonstrated, China is an energy-
starved nation. Thus, measures to improve energy
efficiency of appliances, office equipment, computers,
consumer electronics, and other electrical products are
particularly important in China. Ownership of these
products is increasing rapidly. For example, as of 2002,
87 percent of urban households owned refrigerators, and
an even larger share owned washing machines (93 percent)
and televisions (126 percent).1 Rural appliance ownership
is also growing rapidly, and China leads the world in the
manufacturing of many key appliances. Electricity
consumption is growing faster than other major energy
uses—increasing an average 14 percent annually from
1980 to 2003.2
To address this challenge and opportunity, CECP
was established in 1998, and in 1999 issued energy
efficiency performance specifications for refrigerators, the
first products eligible for the CECP label. Refrigerators
with superior energy