Thank You, Global Partners!
The Clean Lighting Coalition would like to thank our global network for supporting the campaign to end toxic lighting through the Minamata Convention on Mercury. Our partners collected market data, tested light bulbs, grew capacity to recycle fluorescents, engaged with their national governments, spearheaded media outreach, and supported a petition that garnered more than 200 signatures from CSOs and LED companies.
Because of your efforts, 137 countries agreed to phase-out compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) by 2025. By accelerating the transition to LED lighting, which is more energy-efficient and non-toxic, this action will avoid 26.2 metric tonnes of mercury pollution, 261.5 million metric tons of CO2 emissions from 2025-2050 and save people $77.8 billion in lower energy bills.
Over the past year and a half, CLiC engaged 168 partners in 52 countries. Take a quick journey around the world with us to learn about some of the people and organizations that played a key role.
Africa leads the global transition to LEDs
“Across Nigeria, fluorescent bulbs are disposed of in general waste which disperses dangerous concentrations of mercury into our communities every day. We are purchasing a bulb crusher to safely dispose of the mercury in fluorescent lamps here in Lagos to protect people and our environment”, said Adrian Clews, Managing Director of Hinckley in Nigeria.
The Africa region spearheaded the global transition to mercury-free, energy-efficient LED lighting by proposing an amendment to the Minamata Convention to phase out virtually all fluorescents by 2025. We partnered with 30 organizations and LED companies across the continent, including Hinckley, the first registered e-waste recycler in Nigeria. Hinckley is purchasing the first fluorescent bulb crusher in Africa to safely dispose of mercury in lamps.
Latin America proves the benefits of LEDs at the institutional level
“We are replacing fluorescent lamps with more energy-efficient LEDs at the Clinic of the Teaching Hospital of Botucatu in Brazil, specifically in an ambulatory area where around 600 appointments take place daily. We hope to demonstrate that the transition to LEDs will reduce energy bills, protect patients, and improve working conditions for staff,” explains Erick Pelegia of Healthy Hospitals Project (PHS) in Brazil.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, we worked with 24 partners to build evidence and bring together clean lighting stakeholders. PHS has been an influential CLiC partner, bridging health and energy sectors in Brazil through their extensive member network. They are joining partners in Nigeria and the Philippines in our hospital LED retrofit pilots.
Partners in Asia support government plans to end toxic lighting
We worked with 33 organizations across Asia, to support national government commitments to phase out fluorescent lighting. Nexus3 Foundation focuses on eliminating the risks of toxic chemicals in communities across Indonesia. Their team conducted a pilot study in 10 hospitals in Bali to show the feasibility of a complete phase-out of mercury-based health devices.
“We developed resources and data to show the feasibility of an LED transition in Indonesia. This data has played a key role in the development of a national roadmap, demonstrating the extensive benefits of a national transition to high-efficiency LED lamps”, said Krishna Zaki of Nexus3 Foundation.
U.S. partners push for state-level fluorescent bans
“Our new research found that transitioning all-new, general-purpose fluorescent bulbs to LEDs in the United States would cut carbon dioxide emissions in 2030 equal to the annual emissions of 4 million typical passenger cars. The report will be helpful in pushing for state policies that transition the market from fluorescents to LEDs,” said Brian Fadie, State Policy Associate, Appliance Standards Awareness Project, (ASAP).
ASAP leads a broad-based coalition effort to advance new appliance and equipment policies in the United States. In collaboration with CLiC, ASAP has developed extensive research highlighting the cost and environmental benefits of a LED transition in the U.S. Other U.S. partners — the National Stewardship Action Council (NSAC), the Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG), the Responsible Purchasing Network (RPN) and Mercury Policy Project — supported efforts to introduce bills in Vermont and California banning fluorescents at the state level. In Vermont, VPIRG supported efforts to garner support for a clean lighting bill, culminating in Governor Phil Scott signing H.500 into law. This move officially made Vermont the first state in the US to ban all four-foot linear fluorescent lamps. Complemented by an existing law that phases out all screw-based compact linear fluorescents, these two policy actions will remove well over 90% of the fluorescent lighting products from the Vermont market by 1 January 2024.
In California, our partners at NSAC worked with Senator Ash Kalra to introduce AB 2208 and move it through a committee vote. The bill is now under consideration by the State Senate and NSAC continues efforts to educate the private sector and the public on the merits of the bill.
The EU bans fluorescents domestically
“Using evidence on additional consumer costs if fluorescents stay on the market, we pressured the European Commission to phase out the sale of mercury-containing lamps domestically under the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive. We now also have research demonstrating the opportunity to convert EU fluorescent manufacturing to LEDs to protect jobs and support local economic growth,” explains Elena Lymberidi-Settimo, International Co-coordinator of the Zero Mercury Working Group and Policy Manager at the European Environmental Bureau.
In Europe, we partnered with over 10 organizations and experts to end the sale of fluorescents under RoHS. Our partners played a critical role engaging the EU Commission to rally support for the African Lighting Amendment to the Minamata Convention. Through this partnership, the EU and Africa came together in the days before the COP to advocate for phase-out dates of 2023 and 2024 for all lighting categories.
Thank you for your continued efforts to end toxic fluorescent lighting and accelerate the global transition to LEDs.