I’m not even making an environmental statement. The spread in dollar cost per year in operating an efficiently cooled and insulated fridge and one that is neither is enormous. Obviously the size of the enclosed space matters as the heat gain is proportional to the surface area. But for the same volume you can spend 2x per year depending on the model.
Before energy star there was no way to know which was relatively more efficient. This led to people buying appliances that were extraordinarily and unreasonably inefficient, costing way more than necessary.
This is a return to the “bad old days.”