China’s consumer goods trade-in: accelerating cooling efficiency in a warmer climate

This report by Ember analyses China's consumer goods trade-in programme, specifically its impact on the energy efficiency of room air conditioner (RAC) stocks. The programme uses subsidies to encourage consumers to replace outdated appliances with high-efficiency models, aligning economic stimulus for domestic consumption with energy transition and climate goals.

• The consumer goods trade-in programme could significantly accelerate the annual energy efficiency improvement rate of China's room air conditioner (RAC) stock to between 5.0% and 6.1% in 2025, which represents an increase of 40% to 70% over the recent historical average.
• The programme has the potential to reduce residential electricity consumption for cooling by 3.4% to 4.1% during the summer of 2025, which could result in electricity bill savings for consumers of up to $943 million USD.
• Funding for the consumer goods trade-in programme is scheduled to double in 2025 to 300 billion CNY ($41.7 billion USD), following an initial allocation of 150 billion CNY ($20.9 billion USD) in ultra-long special treasury bonds announced in July 2024.
• The programme's subsidy structure is designed to steer consumers toward the most efficient models; subsidies cover 20% of the retail price for Grade 1 models and 15% for Grade 2 models, while products below Grade 2 are ineligible.
• China possesses the world's largest RAC market, accounting for approximately 55% of the global market by 2024, with an average of 145.9 units per 100 households nationwide at the end of 2023.
• Extreme heat in 2024, the hottest year on record for China, led to a 10.6% year-on-year increase in residential electricity consumption, with space cooling estimated to account for 70% of that increase between July and September 2024.
• The programme has shown early success in stimulating the market; from January to May 2025, 77.6 million home appliances were traded in nationally, and Chongqing reported a 179.6% increase in Grade 1 RAC sales from September to December 2024.

APA

Yang, B., & Ewen, M. (2025). China’s consumer goods trade-in: accelerating cooling efficiency in a warmer climate. Ember. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/07/Ember-Report-Chinas-consumer-goods-trade-in-accelerating-cooling-efficiency-in-a-warmer-climate.pdf

Chicago

Yang, Biqing, and Matt Ewen. China’s consumer goods trade-in: accelerating cooling efficiency in a warmer climate. Ember, 2025. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/07/Ember-Report-Chinas-consumer-goods-trade-in-accelerating-cooling-efficiency-in-a-warmer-climate.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Yang |first1=Biqing |last2=Ewen |first2=Matt |title=China’s consumer goods trade-in: accelerating cooling efficiency in a warmer climate |publisher=Ember |date=15 July 2025 |url=https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/07/Ember-Report-Chinas-consumer-goods-trade-in-accelerating-cooling-efficiency-in-a-warmer-climate.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{yang2025chinas, author = {Yang, Biqing and Ewen, Matt}, title = {{China’s consumer goods trade-in: accelerating cooling efficiency in a warmer climate}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2025}, month = jul, url = {https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/07/Ember-Report-Chinas-consumer-goods-trade-in-accelerating-cooling-efficiency-in-a-warmer-climate.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }