The (Non-)Disclosure of Energy Efficiency: The Case of Cooling Technologies across Africa

Pille-Riin Aja (), Louis-Gaëtan Giraudet () and Sébastien Houde
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Pille-Riin Aja: CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AgroParisTech - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - Université Paris-Saclay - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Louis-Gaëtan Giraudet: ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées, CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AgroParisTech - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - Université Paris-Saclay - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Sébastien Houde: UNIL - Université de Lausanne = University of Lausanne

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Abstract: The adoption of air conditioning (AC) could grow exponentially across Africa under the joint effect of acute warming, sustained income growth and rapid urbanization. The implications for greenhouse gas emissions will crucially depend on the energy efficiency of the models adopted. Little is known, however, about how energy efficiency information is conveyed to consumers in these markets. To fill this gap, we gathered data on cooling appliances' characteristics from Africa's largest e-commerce platform, serving 13 countriess—Algeria, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, and Uganda. We find that less than 10% of the AC models available on the marketplace (N=1,229) have information disclosed about their energy performance. Information disclosure appears to be highly idiosyncratic with weak strategic motives. This overall lack of information about energy efficiency represents an important challenge for enforcing energy performance standards and steering demand toward energy-efficient cooling appliances.

Keywords: energy efficiency; climate adaptation; air conditioning; Africa; e-commerce; webscraping (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-ene and nep-env
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Published in Climate Change Economics, inPress, ⟨10.1142/S2010007824400049⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04456844

DOI: 10.1142/S2010007824400049

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