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What "cold climate" means on a mini-split

To carry ENERGY STAR's cold-climate designation, a heat pump must (ENERGY STAR key product criteria):

have a COP at 5°F ≥ 1.75,
deliver ≥ 70% of its 47°F heating capacity at 5°F, and
pass a controls verification procedure showing the unit's own controls achieve that in normal operation.

In the current dataset, 11,740 of 13,844 certified mini-split pairings (84%) are cold-climate. Rankings by capacity class: 9k BTU · 12k BTU · 18k BTU · 24k BTU · 36k BTU.

"Cold climate" does not mean a unit covers your whole heating load at 5°F; compare the 5°F BTU/h with a room-by-room load calculation.