ESPR with refrigeration appliances with sales function first in line

The era of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) has begun, with the express objective of the European Commission to “ensure that only the most sustainable products are sold in Europe”.

Whilst expanding ecodesign to cover almost all tangible goods, the ESPR also presents new challenges for manufacturers of the Heating, Ventilation, Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration (HVACR) ‘Energy-related Products’ (ErP), even for those that are familiar with ecodesign requirements, including for ENER LOT 1: Space heating, ENER LOT 1: Air-conditioners, GROW LOT 1: Professional Refrigeration, ENER LOT 12: Commercial Refrigeration, and ENER LOT 21: Air Heating and Cooling Products. The ESPR will mandate the HVACR LOTs to address sustainability objectives more comprehensively beyond the energy efficiency requirements on which the HVACR sector has become familiar under the Ecodesign Directive since 2009. Indeed, ecodesign requirements will be extended to consider the entire life-cycle environmental impacts of products, from material efficiency, in respect to durability/reparability, to resource efficiency, in the form of recyclability, and the full life-cycle product environmental footprint. This presentation during the EPEE/ASERCOM Symposium at Chillventa will highlight the sign-posting in the ESPR itself and in the precedents that are already being set elsewhere under the ecodesign framework, and thus underling the preparations that will need to be made to get ready for the next generation of ecodesign for HVACR in the late 2020s/early 2030.

As ENER LOT 12 is to be first in line among the HVACR LOTs the presentation will focus in particular on the more immediate prospects for the next review of ENER LOT 12.