An Overview of China’s Energy Labeling Policy Portfolio: China’s Contribution to Addressing the Global Goal of Sustainable Development

Gongyi Zhang,Hongguang Nie,Chang Zhang

doi:10.1177/2158244020988858

Gongyi Zhang, Hongguang Nie + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020988858

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Abstract

As a part of China’s energy conservation and emission reduction policy system, the China Energy Label plays an important role in promoting energy-efficient technology progress and product sales. In this article, we comprehensively review China’s energy labeling policy portfolio, consisting of the Energy-Efficiency Label Management Approach, the financial subsidy, and “top runner” programs. To evaluate the effectiveness of the energy labeling policy portfolio, we further analyze the influence of the energy labeling policy portfolio on the electricity consumption of household appliances. According to our results, the China Energy Label played an active role in slowing the growth rate of residential electricity consumption during 2007–2010, but its effectiveness was not satisfactory in the period 2011–2012. The reasons and countermeasures are discussed herein to address this problem. Moreover, to further enhance the effectiveness of the China Energy Label, policy implications are proposed for long-term successful implementation.

Highlights

Energy-efficiency information labels can guide consumers to purchase energy-efficient household appliances by providing key information concerning energy efficiency (Wiel & McMahon, 2003; Zha et al, 2020) and is a practice that has been widely adopted in many countries, mainly in three forms: rating labels, comparative labels, and informationonly labels
By further analyzing the relationship between household appliance ownership, energy efficiency, and residential electricity consumption, we examine the effectiveness of the China Energy Label
An energy label policy is the inevitable choice of China for achieving the target of energy conservation and emission reduction

Summary

Introduction

Energy-efficiency information labels can guide consumers to purchase energy-efficient household appliances by providing key information concerning energy efficiency (Wiel & McMahon, 2003; Zha et al, 2020) and is a practice that has been widely adopted in many countries, mainly in three forms: rating labels, comparative labels, and informationonly labels.

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Conclusion