The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), through its United for Efficiency (U4E) initiative, has updated its guidelines for air conditioners and air-to-air heat pumps with the aim of helping countries strengthen their minimum energy performance standards. The document reflects the rapid technological evolution of the sector and the growing uptake of variable-speed systems, which offer significantly higher performance than conventional equipment.

The new recommendations broaden the scope of the guidelines to cover a wider range of equipment types and propose harmonised evaluation metrics to enable comparisons of energy performance across different markets. The analysis also highlights that the gradual adoption of more ambitious requirements can accelerate the renewal of the cooling equipment stock without creating disproportionate cost increases for manufacturers and consumers.

Beyond equipment efficiency, the report emphasises the importance of updating testing methods to better reflect real operating conditions. In a context of growing cooling demand, particularly in warm and urbanised regions, stronger energy performance standards are presented as a key tool for reducing electricity consumption and limiting emissions associated with cooling.