The Environmental Protection Agency reportedly plans to shut down the Energy Star program as part of a broader agency reorganization, and to further the Trump Administration’s efforts to reduce regulatory burdens. In a new insight, Director of Competition Policy Fred Ashton warns of the anticompetitive impacts of eliminating this program.

Key Points:

• The Energy Star program was developed in 1992 to reduce energy consumption in both commercial and residential structures by having products and buildings certified as energy efficient by an independent third party.

• The program is voluntary, meaning firms that find it profit-maximizing to participate often do so, while firms that do not can forgo the Energy Star label.

• This certification program has saved businesses and consumers over $500 billion in energy costs; scrapping the program could slow investment, remove a competitive tool firms use to differentiate their products, and deny consumers a trusted and easily accessible source of product information.

Read the analysis.