| Climate Change Conference in Durban South, Africa
 At the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP17 in Durban, South Africa, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) announced a global phase-out target of 2016 at the same time that South Africa announced plans for a national phase-out . This declaration makes it the first African nation to undertake a comprehensive national phase-out transition from inefficient lighting.
As part of a broader effort, UNEP has set an ambitious target date to phase-out inefficient incandescent lamps globally by 2016. This is the first step in the transition to more efficient lighting and a low-carbon, resource-efficient Green Economy. The phase-out of inefficient lighting is one of the most important and easy short-term initiatives that countries can implement to combat climate change and conserve financial resources in a time of global crisis.
At COP16 last year in Cancun, en.lighten unveiled Country Lighting Assessments detailing country savings from the shift away from inefficient incandescent lamps to efficient compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). The total global savings from phasing out incandescent lamps amounts to the same emissions as over half of the annual international aviation sector, or the electricity consumed yearly by the United Kingdom and Denmark combined.
South Africa will be able to electrify over four million homes with the electricity saved from phasing-out incandescent lamps. They will become the first African country to phase-out incandescent lamps following an integrated approach, including the development of collection and recycling systems. Beginning in January 2012, the country fully supports the 2016 global deadline for the phase-out of inefficient lamps and will complete the phase-out by 2016.
South Africa currently faces important power shortages which will be greatly mitigated by the phase-out of incandescent lamps. The electricity saved by the phase-out will be directed to more pressing social needs.
Residential incandescent lamps are the most common lamp type and the easiest to address to mitigate climate change. More savings can be achieved through a transition to efficient lighting in other sectors, such as commercial and industrial lighting. This will be UNEP’s next priority by unveiling plans for the transition for all lighting sectors at the UN Sustainable Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20). To read press release, click here. To see UNFCCC Webcast, click here
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