Participants resolved that 2015 presents a unique window of opportunity to accelerate the rapid deployment of efficient lighting technologies in Asia and the Pacific. The UN Secretary General’s SE4ALL initiative identified lighting as a priority to promote energy efficiency and mitigate climate change. Advanced lighting solutions are critical to reduce electricity bills and greenhouse gas emissions, improve energy security, and trade balances. Furthermore, the global transition to advanced lighting constitutes an inspiring example to promote a globally accepted agreement on climate change by the end of this year in Paris. Lighting is responsible for more than 15% of electricity consumption in Asia.

The political commitment from the Association of South East Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) leaders to develop a single market for goods and services by 2015 provides a perfect opportunity to develop regional lighting standards harmonization, improve consumer confidence and foster regional trade of high-quality lighting products in this 600 million consumers’ market. Countries requested UNEP to gather the conclusions and options identified at the meeting and present them to ASEAN authorities, to facilitate discussion towards regional lighting policy harmonization in ASEAN, while seeking coordination with other Asian nations.

While the regional market is experiencing an increasing penetration of light emitting diode (LED) technologies, participants showed concerns that low quality LED lamps and erroneous performance claims will undermine consumer confidence in the technologies. Standardization and market surveillance is fundamental to eliminate uncertainty and ensure that the promises of this Nobel Prize awarded technology are met.

Government and industry participants put forth innovative solutions to ensure compliance with lighting standards, such as product registries and uniform customs codes. Complying with standards ensures that the billions of lamps sold in Asia are safe, do not put citizens’ heath and livelihood at risk, ensure that energy bills and greenhouse gas emissions are kept low, and meet the consumer expectations.

The Governments of Australia and the United States launched lites.asia in 2009 to facilitate the exchange of technical information on lighting between policy makers in Asia-Pacific. The UNEP-GEF en.lighten initiative, with funding from the Government of Australia, supports countries to build capacities in monitoring, verification and enforcement of lighting standards.

Convened by the United Nations Environment Programme, lites.asia brings together a community of regulators, policy makers, industry representatives and experts and serves as a network for information exchange and discussion on efficient lighting policy and regulation. Through meetings, webinars, technical resources and reports, lites.asia supports the development of national initiatives, regional cooperation and harmonization in Asia.