Efficient Cookstoves
The development and implementation of clean and efficient cooking technologies offer promising advances towards achieving global sustainable development and environmental goals.
What’s the challenge?
Access to clean and efficient cooking presents major global development and environmental issues. Estimates suggest that in 2021, nearly a third of the world’s population – 2.3 billion people – still cooked their meals over open fires or on basic stoves that burn smoky fuels like wood, charcoal, as well as paraffin or kerosene, which contribute towards global greenhouse gas emissions. These basic cooking methods release harmful fumes and contribute to indoor air pollution.
Every year, an estimated 3.7 million people die prematurely from inhaling these fumes. In Africa, women and children, who spend the most time at home, account for 60% of deaths related to smoke inhalation and indoor air pollution.
These cooking practices persist in 128 countries today, where households lack access to clean fuels. Women and children bear the brunt of this burden, spending up to 18 hours per week collecting firewood and other fuels for cooking.
Simple cooking methods that rely on wood and charcoal also contribute to deforestation, with the demand for these causing the loss of forests equivalent to the size of Ireland each year.
How are emissions from cookstoves reduced?
The development and implementation of clean and efficient cooking technologies offer promising advances towards achieving global sustainable development and environmental goals.
Projects may introduce new cookstoves with advanced design elements like improved combustion chambers that reduce fuel use. These stoves burn the same fuel (typically wood and charcoal) in a more efficient way leading to lower indoor air pollution and lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Projects may also introduce new cookstoves designed to use different fuels, such as bioethanol, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and electricity. These stoves and new fuels typically emit very low levels of indoor air pollution and lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Co-benefits of efficient cookstoves
In addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, efficient cookstoves can create several co-benefits, as noted by the Clean Cooking Alliance. These include:
- Improved health and well-being: Efficient cookstoves reduce exposure to harmful gases, which significantly lowers the risk of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases associated with indoor air pollution.
- Environmental Protection: Efficient stoves decrease the demand for firewood and charcoal, which helps reduce the strain on forests and woodland.
- Gender Equality: Women and children are primarily responsible for the unpaid work of cooking and fuel collection. They would benefit from reduced health risks and increased time for education and other pursuits.
- Economic Benefits: The application of clean and efficient cookstoves reduces the time spent gathering fuel, freeing up time for other productive activities, such as education or income-generating work. They also reduce household spending on fuel.
Which cookstoves methodologies have the Integrity Council approved?
- Gold Standard -Methodology for Metered & Measured Energy Cooking Devices versions 1-1.2
- Gold Standard “TPDDTEC” – Reduced Emissions from Cooking and Heating – Technologies and Practices to Displace Decentralized Thermal Energy Consumption version 4.0
- Verra (VCS), VM0050 – Energy Efficiency and Fuel-Switch Measures in Cookstoves version 1.0
What percentage of credits do CCP-Approved cookstove methodologies represent?
There are no CCP-Approved credits in these categories yet, however the Integrity Council expect several hundred thousand tonnes of approved credits to become available this year (2025).
How we assess categories of carbon credits:
Learn about the other part of the ICVCM’s two tick process – the assessment of categories of carbon credits.
Integrity Council approves three cookstove methodologies
Approval conditions require cookstove projects to use the most robust tools and methods available for estimating fuel consumption and monitoring usage.
