Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards Program

The Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards Program, commonly known as CLASP, is an international nonprofit organization focused on improving the energy performance and sustainability of appliances, equipment, and lighting. Its work is centered on standards and labeling, often abbreviated as S&L: governments establish minimum performance requirements and information or endorsement labels, while manufacturers, retailers, regulators, financiers, and consumers use those systems to shift markets toward more efficient products. CLASP was established in 1999 through a strategic cooperation among the Alliance to Save Energy, the International Institute for Energy Conservation, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. It became an independent U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2005. The organization is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has worked across more than 90 countries, with teams and offices or regional activity in Brazil, Europe, India, Indonesia, Kenya, the United Kingdom, China, Southeast Asia, East Africa, and the United States. The organization provides policy research, technical analysis, program design, implementation support, market assessment, compliance guidance, and stakeholder coordination. Its projects help policymakers compare efficiency levels, develop test methods, create minimum energy performance standards, design consumer labels, establish monitoring and enforcement systems, and evaluate the effects of policy choices on energy use, greenhouse-gas emissions, affordability, and economic development. CLASP also supports manufacturers and innovators through technical assistance, financing matchmaking, supply-chain development, and market-building programs. Although its historic emphasis was on appliance energy efficiency, CLASP’s scope has broadened. Current areas of interest include grid responsiveness, repairability, recyclability and electronic-waste management, refrigerants and associated emissions, clean cooking, health effects from cooking-fuel pollution, protection against inefficient-appliance dumping, and access to affordable equipment. Its adaptation work recognizes that efficient refrigerators, fans, cooling systems, agricultural equipment, water pumps, lighting, and cold-chain technologies can help households and businesses cope with heat, unreliable electricity, food losses, and other climate-related stresses. CLASP has also worked on distributed renewable-energy appliances, including solar-powered cold rooms, water pumps, televisions, lighting, and cooking equipment. These technologies can support small enterprises, agricultural value chains, humanitarian services, medical refrigeration, irrigation, and clean-energy access in areas with constrained or unreliable grids. The organization’s approach combines policy reform with product quality assurance, consumer protection, finance, and market access rather than treating efficiency standards as a purely technical matter. CLASP conducts research through a network of more than 200 technical experts and standards-and-labeling practitioners from over 30 countries. It collaborates with international initiatives including the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Energy Standards Information System and the International Energy Agency’s Efficient Electrical End-Use Equipment program. In 2009 it joined the ClimateWorks Foundation network as a Global Best Practice Network. In 2011 it became the operating agent for the Super-efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment initiative, a government-led collaboration associated with the Clean Energy Ministerial and the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation. The organization is not a consumer-goods manufacturer or a conventional appliance brand. Its principal offerings are knowledge, policy support, analytical tools, quality-assurance systems, and international coordination intended to transform markets for energy-consuming products. Its public-interest positioning rests on the premise…

CLASP originated in 1999 as a cooperative effort among the Alliance to Save Energy, the International Institute for Energy Conservation, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The founding partners created the initiative to help countries develop appliance standards and labeling systems that could deliver measurable energy savings while giving consumers better information. Its early work concentrated especially on developing economies and on the practical challenges of designing, implementing, and enforcing minimum energy performance standards and labels. The organization launched its first website in July 2000 and was registered as a partnership associated with the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002. Between 2000 and 2004, CLASP supported the development or implementation of 21 standards and labeling measures. Its early program model combined comparative policy analysis, technical assistance, stakeholder engagement, and dissemination of international practice. Rather than promoting a particular appliance manufacturer or technology, CLASP helped public authorities create market rules and information systems that could raise the efficiency of entire product categories. CLASP became an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation in 2005. This change gave it a distinct institutional identity and allowed it to expand its research, technical-assistance, and international coordination functions. In 2007, it became the secretariat for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Energy Standards Information System, working under the relevant APEC energy-efficiency bodies. The information system supported comparison and exchange of standards, test procedures, and regulatory developments across the region. In March 2009, CLASP joined the ClimateWorks Foundation’s network as a Best Practice Network. The relationship broadened its remit beyond developing-country programs to include larger industrialized economies, including the United States and the European Union. During this period, CLASP developed comparative studies and practical guidance covering cooling, harmonization of efficiency requirements, and compliance systems. Its research helped policymakers compare products tested under different performance metrics and identify opportunities to align regulations across markets. A major institutional milestone came in 2011, when CLASP was appointed operating agent for the Super-efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment initiative. SEAD is a government-led collaboration connected with the Clean Energy Ministerial and the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation. In this role, CLASP supported international information exchange, policy coordination, and market-transformation efforts aimed at increasing the availability and uptake of highly efficient appliances and equipment. In 2012, the CLASP website received recognition as an Official Honoree in the Green category of the Webby Awards. CLASP’s technical portfolio has included benchmarking studies for residential air conditioners, analyses of possible harmonization of standards across China, the European Union, India, Japan, and the United States, and guidance on monitoring, verification, and enforcement. Its Energy Efficiency Labels and Standards guidebook was designed for officials and practitioners responsible for developing and maintaining standards and labeling systems. Its Mepsy software, formerly known as the Policy Analysis Modeling System, helps users estimate the benefits of policy options and identify promising appliance categories and efficiency levels. The CLASP Policy Resource Center, formerly the Global S&L Database, provides comparative information on appliance, lighting, and equipment policies and their regulatory histories. The organization later expanded beyond conventional grid-connected appliances. Through work associated with VeraSol, which evolved from the Lighting Global Quality Assurance initiative, CLASP supported quality assurance and transparent product information for off-grid solar products. Its broader programs now address distributed renewable-energy appliances, clean cooking, refrigerants, repairability, recyclability, e-waste, appliance affordability, grid responsiveness, supply chains, and protection against inefficient products entering markets through dumping. CLASP’s present model combines global research with regional programs. It works with policymakers, regulators, manufacturers, technical experts, financiers, utilities, laboratories, and civil-society groups. Its climate-mitigation rationale is that efficient equipment lowers energy consumption, peak demand, emissions, and operating costs. Its climate-adaptation rationale is that appliances such as fans, refrigerators, cooling equipment, water pumps, and cold-chain systems can protect health, food supplies, livelihoods, and essential services during climate shocks. The organization therefore treats standards and labeling as part of a wider market and development system involving access, quality, finance, resilience, and consumer protection.

1. 2012Webby Awards recognition

   The CLASP website is selected as an Official Honoree in the Green category of the Webby Awards.

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2. 2011Appointed operating agent for SEAD

   CLASP becomes operating agent for the Super-efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment initiative.

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3. 2009Joins ClimateWorks Foundation network

   CLASP joins ClimateWorks Foundation’s Global Best Practice Network.

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4. 2007Becomes APEC ESIS secretariat

   CLASP takes on secretariat responsibilities for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Energy Standards Information System.

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5. 2005Becomes an independent 501(c)(3)

   CLASP separates institutionally from its founding cooperation and becomes an independent U.S. nonprofit corporation.

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6. 2002Registered as a World Summit on Sustainable Development partnership

   CLASP is registered as a partnership associated with the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

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7. 2000First website launches

   CLASP launches its first website in July, creating a public platform for its standards-and-labeling resources.

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8. 1999CLASP is established

   The initiative is created through cooperation among the Alliance to Save Energy, the International Institute for Energy Conservation, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

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An evidence-led global policy and technical organization that connects governments, industry, researchers, financiers, and civil-society stakeholders to accelerate efficient, affordable, resilient, and lower-emission appliance and equipment markets.

• CLASP Policy Resource CenterPolicy database

  An online resource for comparing energy-efficiency policies and regulations for appliances, lighting, and equipment across countries and economic regions. It provides information on policy design, legislative frameworks, product coverage, and regulatory history for policymakers and standards-and-labeling practitioners.

• MepsyPolicy-analysis software

  A modeling tool derived from CLASP’s Policy Analysis Modeling System. It helps policymakers assess the potential benefits of standards and labeling programs and compare appliance categories, policy options, and target efficiency levels.

• VeraSolSolar-product quality assurance

  A quality-assurance and product-information platform for off-grid solar products. It evolved from the Lighting Global Quality Assurance initiative and provides technical information intended to help users compare products tested through qualified laboratories.

• Energy Efficiency Labels and Standards guidebookTechnical publication

  A practical reference for officials and practitioners developing, implementing, monitoring, enforcing, and maintaining energy-efficiency labeling and standards programs for appliances, equipment, and lighting.

• 2021SEAD Product Efficiency Call to Action

  Global

  CLASP supported a SEAD call to action focused on doubling the efficiency of lighting, residential cooling, residential refrigeration, and industrial electric-motor systems by 2030.

  Outcome. Fifteen countries signed the call to action.

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• 2011Super-efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment

  Global

  CLASP was appointed operating agent for SEAD, a multilateral government initiative designed to accelerate the deployment and market adoption of highly efficient appliances and equipment.

  Outcome. The initiative became a major channel for international cooperation on product efficiency, information exchange, and market transformation.

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• 2011Take an operating role in SEADStrategy

  International governments were seeking coordinated approaches to accelerate highly efficient appliance and equipment markets.

  What changed. CLASP accepted appointment as operating agent for the Super-efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment initiative.

  Aftermath. CLASP became more deeply involved in global market-transformation coordination and international product-efficiency cooperation.

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• 2009Join ClimateWorks Foundation networkStrategy

  CLASP sought to expand its policy work beyond developing-country programs.

  What changed. It joined ClimateWorks Foundation’s Global Best Practice Network.

  Aftermath. Its work expanded to additional industrialized economies, including the United States and the European Union.

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• 2005Establish independent nonprofit statusStrategy

  CLASP had operated as a cooperation among three founding institutions since 1999.

  What changed. The organization became an independent U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation.

  Aftermath. The change created a standalone institutional platform for international policy assistance, research, and standards-and-labeling coordination.

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• 2021SEAD Product Efficiency Call to Action gains country support

  Fifteen countries signed a SEAD call to double the efficiency of lighting, residential cooling, residential refrigeration, and industrial electric-motor systems by 2030.

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• 2011CLASP appointed operating agent for SEAD

  CLASP became the operating agent for the Super-efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment initiative, an international market-transformation collaboration.

  Leadership changeOther
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• 2009CLASP joins the ClimateWorks Foundation network

  CLASP joined ClimateWorks Foundation’s Global Best Practice Network, extending its policy work into additional industrialized economies and regions.

  Other
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• 2005CLASP becomes independent nonprofit organization

  The program transitioned from its founding institutional cooperation into an independent U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

  Other
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1. Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards Program
2. CLASP official website