The ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) and Korean Energy Agency (KEA) jointly organised the Fifth Action Plan Working Group (5^th APWG) in Seam Reap, Cambodia, on 25-26 March 2016, hosted by Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), Cambodia.  Under the ASEAN+3 (ASEAN+China, Japan, South Korea) Mitigation Programme 2016, the 5^th APWG continued the consultative process on policy and testing procedure of Energy Efficiency Standard and Labelling (EE S&L) for Refrigerators in Cambodia.  The ASEAN+3 Mitigation Programme is a cooperation between ASEAN and South Korea under the Senior Officials Meeting on Energy plus Three (SOME+3), that aims to strengthen the cooperation of ASEAN+3 Member States in greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation, capacity building and information sharing on GHG mitigation, and developing business opportunities on GHG mitigation.  As part of the Programme, the 5^th APWG was drawing insights from a range of various related ministries and stakeholders on EE S&L policy and regulations. Within the Selection, Focus and Expansion (SFX) strategy, the programme decided refrigerators as prioritised target for this year’s EE S&L programme in Cambodia.

The 5^th APWG Meeting was officially opened by H.E. Victor Jona, Director General of Energy, MME of Cambodia. In his speech, he emphasised that the promotion of energy efficiency & conservation (EE&C), through EE S&L is very essential and brings many benefits; minimising the consumption of fuels and reducing the proportion of disposable income that improves the people’s quality of life. The Programme is also in line with The Government’s Rectangular Strategy Phase II and National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) on green growth roadmap, which improves governance, increase public investments and supports the economic development. He stated that to advance the strategy and the plan, EE is viewed as the most cost-effective strategy for economic and social development to improve the living standard of the population, to increase the competitiveness of Cambodian economy, to decrease dependency on imported fuels and to protect the country’s natural environment.

Site visit to retail store. Credit: MME

On the second day, 26 March 2016, MME organised a site visit to a retailer shop to observe the current situation on labelling system in the market. During the site visit, Mr. Lieng Vuthy, Deputy Director of Renewable Division, MME, shared the current situation and directives of Cambodia’s EE S&L system to the shop owner and staff. Further, the site visit provided the participants a better understanding on the current EE market transformation efforts by the Cambodian government, especially in promoting efficient refrigerators.  The information gained through the visit will be able to serve as a basis for the advancement of the programme under the ASEAN – South Korea cooperation. (RJPS, Photo credit: MME)

Checking out EE S&L system in the market. Credit: MME