Hillary Clinton Lauds India Cookstove Program

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton highlighted the efforts of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (GACC) at an event held at the Women’s Working Forum in Chennai, India on July 20th, 2011. As reported in the GACC newsletter, Mrs. Clinton also praised the Government of India for its National Biomass Cookstoves Initiative.

Dr. Kalpana Balakrishnan of the Sri Ramachandra University, a research expert on the health benefits of cleaner cookstoves, walked Mrs.Clinton through demonstrations of stoves being marketed by Alliance partners including Prakti Design, First Energy, Envirofit and TERI.

According to a press release from the US Consulate, Dr. Kalpana stressed to Mrs. Clinton that continued research and partnerships are vital for the programme’s success, and that it needs the same full-scale attention as given to public health programmes that address vaccinations and nutrition. The discussions with Mrs. Clinton also focused on new and advanced monitoring tools for this sector used in Dr. Balakrishnan’s laboratory.

Mrs. Clinton was quoted as saying in the US Consulate report:

"The women here today represent women all over the world who are by and large the biggest users and victims of cookstoves. We will work with people around the world to help develop clean cookstoves, help to manufacture them so they are affordable for you to buy them."

Mrs Clinton also announced that India’s apex bodies of commerce and industry, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), have signed up to the Alliance. Both organisations have come forward to support the adoption of clean cookstoves in India. According to the newsletter:

“CII has committed to link community efforts to its extensive industry network, help commercialise promising cooking technologies, and help integrate clean cookstoves into its other members’ projects.”

FICCI plans to support local cookstove SMEs, help to make cookstoves more accessible through microfinance, develop women’s employment options and support the GACC’s interaction with the Indian government.

Read the full report on: Sec. Clinton Highlights Clean Cookstoves in India
                                     Secretary Clinton Gets Fired Up Over Safer Cooking

Addressing Africa’s Affordability Challenge: Is Carbon Trading The Answer?

In early 2010 Shell Foundation and Envirofit, long-standing partners in the battle against IAP, decided the time was right to expand the geographical focus of their work to Africa.

What they found was a very different situation to the one they faced in India. People in Africa already knew about the benefits of improved cookstoves and, what’s more, they were keen to buy them. The problem, almost exclusively, was the issue of affordability.

Pradeep Pursnani heads Shell Foundation’s programme to tackle Indoor Air Pollution. In the last two years he has been working to overcome the main barriers to growth of the nascent cookstove market in India, living and breathing the IAP challenge.

Pradeep says:

"India poses a complex set of challenges, and high amongst these is the issue of demand. Indian consumers in rural areas still struggle with the idea that purchasing a better cookstove is a good use of their limited resources. The impacts of IAP need to be spelt out at all levels, and consumers need help to understand the efficiencies and savings that improved stoves can offer. On the other hand, for quite some time, Africans have been giving up on three-stone fireplaces in favour of metal stoves,largely because the depletion of forests and scrubland has forced them to purchase the wood and charcoal they use as kitchen fuel."

In fact locally built stoves such as the Joki, a metal stove with a combustion chamber made from mud, were introduced in Africa nearly 20 years ago. For Pradeep this meant that there was less need to spend time, effort and resources building awareness about the problem of IAP and the need to use improved stoves. As he scouted markets in Kenya and Tanzania it became clear that the economic benefits of a stove that consumed less fuel appealed greatly to consumers.

Pradeep explained:

“We soon realised that people in Africa were comfortable buying a stove as a household product. This meant that our biggest challenge was to deliver a value proposition that would displace the existing, less efficient but very cheap stoves. We needed to make efficient cookstoves available via a strong distribution system, but at a price that matched or bettered the existing alternatives.”

Pradeep discovered a continent awash with stove sellers. With the market highly elastic (price-sensitive) some of these businesses had started to sell carbon credits in order to reduce their prices. Herein lay tremendous potential to use carbon revenues to subsidise the price of improved clean cookstoves or to invest in technological development to lower costs.

“Carbon credits are a key enabler for clean cookstoves in the African market”,said Pradeep.

“They can help overcome the barriers of affordability by taking advantage of the fact that cleaner cookstoves offer environmental as well as health benefits.”

[Early research shows that improved stoves can save up to 3 tonnes of carbon per year from entering the atmosphere. Over the five year life span of a stove this figure can be substantial.]

Unfortunately taking advantage of these carbon savings proved far from simple; the main problem, it turned out, was one of timing.

“For a clean cookstove business to be competitive in the wider market place they must be selling stoves at around $10. If they can reach this price point they’ll have the edge on product quality. But at the moment this price is far lower than the cost to make the stoves. Trading the future carbon savings from each stove could subsidise much of this shortfall, but this revenue won’t be seen until two to three years later.”

Carbon savings need to be measured and validated in the field before credits are issued and trading can take place. Clean cookstove manufacturers simply lack the working capital to cover this gap.

Catalysing sustainable growth

“After a great deal of market analysis and research we came to the conclusion that although we could find the right partners to distribute stoves and maximise the value of carbon revenues, we needed to help them bridge to the point in time at which this system would be self-sufficient” continues Pradeep, his excitement clear in every word.

“We launched the Shell Foundation Envirofit Carbon Fund in at the end of 2010. The idea is to have a $1 million fund to support different kinds of high-quality clean stove businesses, regardless of the technology they use, and facilitate new distribution channels by making appropriately structured finance available to them on a temporary basis to help them become sustainable.”

Through the new fund the partners hope to subsidise the sale of over 100,000 stoves over the next 2 years in countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria and India. The subsidy will be replaced with earnings from carbon revenues over time. The fund will also work with other organizations, such as women’s groups and MFIs, to make the sale and marketing of improved stoves more affordable.

The Carbon Fund has announced three deals to work with distributors in Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania. The first, announced in the third quarter of 2010, is a partnership with Paradigm, a voluntary carbon network in Kenya. The plan is for Envirofit to sell improved stoves to Paradigm for $10 to $12 (approx $20 less than their usual retail price) with Shell Foundation providing a subsidy to Envirofit to make up the difference. Paradigm will sell these at cost to a range of distributors in the country and the stoves will eventually be sold to consumers for roughly $15. Over time Paradigm will trade the carbon credits it receives for each stove sold and use this income to subsidise further stove purchases.

By early 2011 similar deals had been struck with C-Quest, a US-based carbon financier, that aims to sell two million improved stoves in Nigeria within the next five years, and E+Co, the clean energy investor, in Tanzania.

Just one piece of the jigsaw

Whilst the new fund will provide a much-needed spur to help the clean cookstove industry realise the value of carbon revenues, Pradeep knows that further cost-efficiencies and technological developments are needed.

“Carbon credits will part-subsidise the price of the improved stoves but more savings are going to be necessary for these stoves to be competitive in the mature stove markets of Africa. The next step will be for Envirofit to start local assembly operations in Kenya where they will benefit from tax waivers. The cost of an imported Envirofit G3300 is roughly $30 but local assembly would bring down the cost to around $15. Once you factor in the income from trading carbon credits this makes a final retail price of $8 much more realistic. If they then start using local paint and parts such as handles, costs could be reduced even further. Then you have the boost to local employment that this would provide.”

This development would see Kenya become the hub of Envirofit’s East African operations and enable duty free export to Tanzania and Uganda. Generating carbon revenues from the sale of clean cookstoves is an important route to achieving this; a sustainable, scaleable win-win for stove manufacturers, distributors and the customers they serve.

Case Study: Cleaner Cooking Makes Business Sense in Ramnagar

Suresh is a self-employed tavern owner from Ramnagar, Karnataka – a small but rapidly growing town between Bangalore and Mysore made popular by the legendary Bollywood film Sholay.

For years Suresh relied upon a three-stone traditional chulha to prepare sambar (Indian lentils), rice, tea and coffee for his customers – a broad mix of local townsfolk and travellers on route to Mysore. Business was good but behind the scenes Suresh was paying a big price. Whilst his customers enjoyed the aroma of freshly brewed coffee, Suresh was inhaling dense toxic fumes from the chulha that left him with sore eyes and a sore throat. At the same time he was spending Rs100 a day for firewood to feed the stove.

Three months ago, an officer from Grameen Koota, a micro-finance organisation, saw Suresh cooking over his traditional chulha.  A short discussion between the two led to Suresh being introduced to a bright orange cookstove that consumed less firewood and emitted less smoke. Suresh saw the value immediately but although he liked the idea of having the stove – one of Envirofit’s G3300 models – he worried about getting the money together. The Grameen Koota officer stepped in with a loan for Suresh’s mother, Thayamma, to buy the stove.

Today, Suresh stirs his sambar without coughing or crying and his customers are happy to sit in a smoke-free space. The Envirofit stove has helped Suresh cut down the time he spends cooking. By using the stove for two to five hours a day (two to three hours every morning, one hour in the afternoon and another hour in the evening) he can cook rice and sambar on five-litre pots to feed his customers throughout the day. With his old traditional chulha the same amount of cooking used to take Suresh between eight and 10 hours.

Suresh requires less wood for his new improved cookstove and this saving has already allowed him to repay the loan from Grameen Koota.

“In less than a month, I’ve recovered the stove’s cost from the savings I make on fuel”, Suresh told us. “I’m now only spending between Rs 20 and 30 on wood each day – that’s a daily saving of Rs 70 to 80. I don’t have to breathe in dirty smoke and even the food tastes better.”

Envirofit stoves reduce harmful emissions up to 80% and require up to 60% less fuel compared to traditional cookstoves. They are manufactured to last longer than traditional chulha stoves whilst being easy to use, clean and maintain.

Various MFI financing schemes, like the one from Grameen Koota, help to make the stoves more affordable. Grameen Koota officers make the most of their familiarity in the villages and the understanding of the socio-economic conditions of their customers to raise awareness about the benefits of clean cookstoves.

Suresh’s new stove has made his life easier, more comfortable and saved him money. While his customers enjoy their piping hot coffee and sambar-rice, Suresh is now cooking safely in his smokeless kitchen.

Indo-US Joint Centre To Research Link Between IAP And COPD

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD) is a major public health problem affecting millions of people in both developed and developing countries. There is no effective treatment for COPD, which is characterised by chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

Whilst many millions of people in the developed world suffer from COPD, the problem is particularly severe in rural communities in the developing world. As a report on Healthcanal.com explains, high incidences of environmental lung disease are being caused primarily by indoor cooking using biomass and other solid fuels.

A recent report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) breaks down the causes of COPD further.

“COPD has opposite patterns according to geographic areas. In high- and middle-income countries, tobacco smoke is the biggest risk factor, while in low-income countries exposure to indoor air pollution, such as the use of biomass fuels for cooking and heating, causes the COPD burden. Almost 3 billion people worldwide use biomass and coal as their main source of energy for cooking, heating, and other household needs. In these communities, indoor air pollution is responsible for a greater fraction of COPD risk than smoking or outdoor air pollution.Biomass fuels used by women for cooking account for the high prevalence of COPD among non-smoking women in parts of the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Indoor air pollution resulting from the burning of wood and other biomass fuels is estimated to kill two million women and children each year.”

Despite research by the WHO into COPD occurrence in non-smokers, the pathobiology and a definitive link between indoor air pollution (caused by burning  solid fuels and cooking over traditional stoves) and the disease is still unclear.

To address this issue, the Indo-US Science & Technology Forum (IUSSTF) has awarded funding to The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to establish the first centre to study COPD and other lung diseases in non-smokers living in rural India.

The centre, to be called the Indo-US Center of Excellence for Environmental Lung Diseases, will be led jointly by Shyam Biswal, Professor at the Bloomberg School’s Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Sundeep Salvi, Director of India’s Chest Research Foundation at Pune and Anurag Agrawal, MD of the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in Delhi.

Speaking to Healthcanal.com, Biswal said “We are beginning to appreciate the global problem of non-smoker COPD but our understanding of pathobiology is unclear. This Centre will attempt to bring together experts from both countries to face this public health challenge”.

The Indian investigators will share data with their US counterparts on a number of factors influencing levels of IAP. These include firewood consumption in rural homes, duration of time spent cooking, level of exposure to toxic fumes and gene-environment interaction. Such information will provide a clearer understanding of susceptibility to the disease, leading to the development of new treatments for the affected population.

Read the full story on: Indo-U.S. Center Established to Study Nonsmoking-Related Causes of COPD

Clean Cookstoves Contribute To Reduction In Nigeria's Carbon Emissions

In 2005 the Kyoto Protocol set in place a global schedule for the reduction of greenhouse gases, prompting countries across the world to implement specific emission reduction programmes to help them meet their new obligations. 

Just two years ago, Nigeria had no such programme in place. Yet, as the country’s widely-read Daily Independent reports, the latest statistics from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) show that the country’s carbon emissions reduction performance is now the best in Africa.  The dramatic change is attributed to a range of energy efficiency programmes – including initiatives to introduce cleaner cookstoves to the market – and means that Nigeria currently ranks ninth in anticipated certified emissions reductions across the world. 

According to the report, Nigeria’s average annual savings earned from Carbon Emission Reduction (CER) credits form 1.03% of the world’s total (behind only China, India, Brazil, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Indonesia, Malaysia, Chile and Argentina), and are largely driven by four registered Carbon Development Mechanisms. Three of these - the Kwale Recovery of Associated Gas Project, the Ovade-Ogharefe Gas Capture and Processing Project and the Asuoku/Umutu Gas Recovery and Marketing Facility – work to create carbon savings in the gas industry. The fourth, Save 80 Fuel Wood Stoves, is a clean cookstove initiative seeking to make improved wood stoves more readily available in Nigeria.

Speaking to the Daily Independent, CDM expert Victor Fodeke says that CDMs in the country have a bright future. He highlights the fact that seven new projects submitted to the UNFCCC for approval have passed the monitoring stage. Among these projects are two further clean cookstoves initiatives. 

This is good news for clean cookstove manufacturers, who hope that these initiatives will help them to offset the costs of production and distribution in Nigeria, and lower the price of the much-needed stoves, making them available to the consumers most impacted by IAP.

Photo Courtesy: Bioenergylists
Read the full story on: Nigeria earns emission credits amid high potential

Envirofit India Selling A 'Smoke-less' Future

Traditional firewood cookstoves are not just appliances for cooking food. They are cultural products that have evolved over centuries to serve the needs of the local community according to local cuisine, average family sizes and availability of fuel. 

Taking on the challenge of redesigning a product so firmly embedded in the community is not easy. In an interview for Smoke in the Kitchen, Harish Anchan, Managing Director of Envirofit India, details the company’s story so far in the improved cookstove space.

Designing the product

“We feel that a cookstove should reflect the voice of the consumer” explains Harish. To hear this voice, Envirofit assessed the needs of 120 families in South India, tracking their cooking habits extensively. This research shaped the design of the first Envirofit stove launched in 2008.

“We did not stop there. Over the years we have constantly made changes and improvements to the stoves. The Envirofit stove that was developed in 2008 is very different from the stove being marketed in 2011.”

Why India?

This local research-based approach to design has been key to the success of Envirofit, and explains why the company has focused operations in the South of India so far.

“120 million households in India cook their daily meals by burning biomass fuel (wood, animal dung or agricultural waste)”Anchan says, outlining Envirofit’s reasons for choosing India as its launch market. 

“Most meals are cooked on open fires or rudimentary, inefficient stoves that release high levels of toxic emissions into people’s homes. The World Health Organisation estimates that this Indoor Air Pollution kills over half a million people in India each year, with 56% of these deaths occurring in children under 5.”

Getting to market

Choosing the launch market and designing the perfect cookstove were only the first pieces of the puzzle for Envirofit. Marketing the cookstoves to an audience unused to investing in such appliances, and ensuring adequate distribution networks were in place, were both vital factors to guaranteeing success.

Envirofit made use of multiple existing networks to reach customers, including “traditional retail distribution networks, Government, NGOs, MFIs, institutions, village entrepreneurs and self-help groups”. Each of these routes offers Envirofit different opportunities. “Distribution networks service customers by providing stoves to their doorsteps at a very low margin, whereas NGOs spread the social message of the company and build awareness of the general issues surrounding IAP.”

Traditional retail networks have proven very effective in getting Envirofit stoves to end users. Anchan identifies utensil shops as being particularly effective retail spaces in this capacity. 

A common misconception is that affordability remains one of the biggest barriers to increased sales of improved cookstoves. Envirofit’s experience does not tally with this: “Affordability has only been perceived as an issue when the product is marketed solely as a solution that deals with health hazards. When people realise the cost savings improved cookstoves offer, as well as their aspirational value, they are less concerned about affordability.”

Success so far

Envirofit stoves reduce harmful emissions by up to 80%, and require up to 60% less fuel. They have an average operational lifespan of 5 years, compared to the six months offered by traditional clay cookstoves. These factors have enabled Envirofit to sell over 200,000 units so far, which Anchan estimates means they have impacted the lives of one million people. He is not content to stop there: “A far larger challenge exists and we are therefore building distribution alliances, micro-finance partnerships and tapping into rural networks to take cookstoves to more customers.”

Looking Ahead

What does the future hold for Envirofit? Anchan identifies carbon finance as a key activity for the company over the coming months, and something that has the potential to drastically increase the reach and social effects of Envirofit’s work. “Envirofit is working with Eco-Securities to provide carbon finance in India. We have submitted documents for registration to the voluntary carbon programme, making us the first domestic stoves carbon trading programme in India. Once we have access to carbon finance, we can offset it against the cost of manufacturing stoves and raising awareness.”

Role of Government 

“The Government has a crucial role in addressing India’s development challenges and we look to support this in every way we can. With regard to clean cookstoves, they can help in three major ways. First, by creating an eco-system for stove manufacturers through awareness campaigns which will enable rapid creation of markets for stoves. Second, the Government can utilize and mobile networks to solve the problem of last mile access by creating better distribution channels. And third, by enabling low interest loans akin to farm loans, the Government can enable the poorest of the poor to buy improved cook stoves. The new Government cookstoves initiative is delivering progress in each area and we want to form deeper partnerships to enable this work to benefit the people most impacted by IAP”.

Exciting times lie ahead for Envirofit India.

Carbon Offsets For Cookstoves Project Making Ugandan Households Healthier

Deforestation in Africa is driving up the cost of firewood, and forcing women to go further afield to gather fuel, putting them at greater risk of attacks and assaults. As a result of this, an increasing number of improved cookstove manufacturers and carbon financing organizations from around the world are entering the market seeking to make a difference.

The latest company to launch a project in Africa is Offsetters, a Canadian carbon management solutions provider co-developing a cookstove offset scheme, as reported by CNW.

The article explains how the Offsetters project aims “to distribute thousands of new, clean-burning cookstoves to Ugandan households over the next five years, which will have the equivalent effect of removing approximately 4000 cars from the road for a year.” This carbon-saving is in addition to health benefits that cleaner cookstoves offer to people who are dying simply trying to cook their daily meals.

The Offsetters project is registered under the Gold Standard, which ensures that carbon savings are genuine and that they make tangible contributions to sustainable development. By selling verifiable carbon credits, stove manufacturers can offset the cost of production and distribution of improved cookstoves, making them more affordable to a greater consumer base.

The cookstoves are based on improved combustion efficiency technology. This extra efficiency cuts cooking times in half, while each stove consumes 50% less fuel than traditional cookstoves, resulting in substantial cost savings for Ugandan families.

Interviewed by CNW, Offsetters Founder and CEO James Tansey said; "The results of co-developing such an internationally valuable project that ties into a basic, daily human need to cook and feed oneself, in relation to climate change, are enormous. From reducing environmental impact and potentially improving physical health to reducing wood collecting and cooking time, these cookstoves will change the way the Ugandan people live their lives.”

Photo Courtesy: Offsetters
Read the full story on: Clean cookstove project in Africa has Canadian ties

Riding On Rural Networks To Bridge The Last Mile For Clean Cookstoves

Having a great solution is all very well but it’s simply no use if you can’t get it to the person who needs it. The challenge, as any social entrepreneur will tell you, is that whilst the right technology might be available to solve a problem, the poorest people remain disconnected from retail markets and have a low power to spend. The distribution channels simply don’t exist to get products across the so-called “last mile” – creating an issue of both access and affordability.

A recent article by Diana Jue (of the MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning) in the Stanford Social Innovation Review records four innovative ways in which social enterprises in India are trying to bridge the “last mile” to create a more efficient market for clean cookstoves.

One option is to team up with NGOs and Microfinance Institutions to take advantage of a pre-existing network of relationships. First Energy reaches out to small local NGOs while Envirofit leverages the distribution system of MFIs. The bundling of the stove with other financial products also enables the MFI channels to subsidize the cost of the stoves.

Second, working with rural dealers whose network markets, sells and distributes products. Oorja, for instance, uses Adharam Energy which deploys female village-level entrepreneurs and members of self-help groups who give live demonstrations and identify prospects as well as Villgro Stores which operates village shops.

Third, riding on the existing rural networks of other companies. For example, Prakti Designs is promoting its stoves through SELCO which sells home lighting systems.

Finally, companies such as Envirofit have realized that a good solution lies in the traditional rural trade networks with its established chain of distributors and retailers. Combining store presence with mass media advertising, Envirofit reaches out to a demographic cluster that makes its purchases from these stores.

The common factor seems to be the growing realization that to create a well-functioning market, integrating products such as cookstoves into existing market systems is extremely important. Creating a distribution network of their own is neither feasible nor viable but using existing channels at least ensures a pipeline that may not be perfect but can at least be adapted to reach the last mile.

Photo courtesy: Envirofit

Read the full article on: Innovations That Address the Last-Mile Distribution Challenge

“Strong Innovative Partnerships Are Key To Solving The Problem Of IAP” Says Shell Foundation’s Pradeep Pursnani

For three years, the Shell Foundation has been testing the effectiveness of new and innovative routes to market for clean cookstoves in rural villages across India. Here Pradeep Pursnani, Business Director of Shell Foundation’s program to tackle Indoor Air Pollution, discusses the importance of partnerships to address challenges of awareness-raising, distribution and affordability.

What initiatives make up Shell Foundation’s ‘Room to Breathe’ campaign?

Room to Breathe is a campaign aimed at raising awareness of IAP and enabling greater availability of clean cook stoves as a solution for some of India’s poorest consumers. It started in the Shimoga district of Karnataka, South India, as a village-level engagement program that encompassed stove demonstrations, street-theatre and interactive games and ran concurrently with a mass media campaign.This new

type of social marketing is proving to be quite successful and generated a huge amount of market data.

We’ve since built on this by working with micro-finance institutions such as Grameen Koota, NGOs like Art of Living and rural entrepreneurs like Dharma to use their extensive networks to create new distribution channels; and to come up with options to make stoves more affordable. The partnerships have resulted in both outright and credit-based sales.

In terms of geography, our work brings together a wide range of partners in different parts of the country. These include Anganwadi workers, self-help groups, rural retail and distribution enterprises and regional entities, establishing alternative routes to market in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Assam and Uttar Pradesh.

What key challenges is Shell Foundation seeking to address in the IAP domain?

The fundamental challenges of dealing with IAP have been well-established: First, creating awareness about the health risks of IAP while propagating the economic benefits of clean cookstoves; second, making improved cookstoves available at the last mile both in terms of sales and maintenance, and third, most importantly, providing access to finance or making stoves affordable without either price discounting or short-lived subsidies.

To that end, we have stayed flexible in our approach, working with strong local partners who can tackle two of the issues on their own: outreach and affordability.

Our partnership with Art of Living and Dharma is a great example of two organizations working jointly to address the challenges.  Art of Living builds on its existing efforts in the community and educates people on the issues of IAP and the solution to address it.  Dharma, through its entrepreneurs is responsible for commercial aspects around the distribution and sale of the stoves at the last mile.

Another area with strong potential are institutional alliances. For example, tea plantations in the North-East of India where plantation workers are heavily dependent on wood for fuel. It is in the interest of the plantations to facilitate ownership of stoves that not only improve indoor air but also cut fuel consumption. 

Are there any additional advantages of partnering with an MFI like Grameen Koota?

The partnership with Grameen Koota specifically aims to address the affordability conundrum by offering low-cost loans for clean cookstoves whilst benefiting from the networks and credibility of Grameen  at village-level to market and distribute the improved stoves.

Grameen Koota’s loan officers are well known and have a good reputation in the community they serve. Their credibility amongst the people in the area helps with raising awareness of the ill-effects of IAP and the benefits of using an improved cookstove. They are trained to raise awareness of the benefits of clean cookstoves, and hold stove demonstrations for the gathered community to highlight the savings possible with the more efficient Envirofit stoves.

Finally, Grameen Koota keeps distribution channels informed about potential orders, thereby ensuring stoves are available when customers reach the retailers.

Will Shell Foundation work with other manufacturers, groups and the Government of India to combat IAP?

The answer is simple – for a problem this big we need to work together. Through a combination of partnerships, campaigns and innovations that span across a wide range of manufacturers, NGOs, financial institutions, academicians, local governments and village leaders we’ve managed to demonstrate new, more effective routes to market.

For truly national scale, the Government needs to play a huge role and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has been implementing some excellent ideas to achieve this. In the future, we see the National Improved Cookstoves Programme becoming the flag bearer for a national awareness campaign, as well enabling stove manufacturers to reach their customers.

Making The Most Of Carbon Financing: A New Guide For Energy Entrepreneurs

For a small-scale energy producer in an emerging market, one of the biggest constraints to survival is access to appropriate levels of finance. The rapid growth of the carbon finance industry in recent years could offer a lifeline – emissions trading or ‘carbon credits’ represent a valuable source of income for energy businesses and create financial incentives for cleaner sustainable energy provision – but so far it is mainly larger providers that have been able to benefit.

GVEP International, an international non-profit created to reduce poverty through ‘accelerated access to modern energy services’ aims to change this. Recognising the potential of carbon trading to enable the expansion of innovative social enterprises who deliver development impacts in addition to carbon reductions, GVEP has teamed up with the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy to produce a guide for energy entrepreneurs who wish to link their businesses to carbon finance.

“GVEP International often gets asked questions on carbon finance from the many enterprises it is working with. Thus, we tried to make this guide very practical.” says David Disch, co-author of the guide.

“There is so much written on carbon finance but most of it is theoretical and very detached from the questions a small-size biogas enterprise or a cookstove manufacturer has. Drawing on input from various experts and illustrative case studies, this little guide can help small and medium enterprises to understand the complexities and allows them to evaluate the pros and cons of the financial and technical requirements to access carbon finance.”

The partnership has produced a very useful and instructive manual for new entrants into the carbon finance market, addressing questions such as: 

•    How do I assess the potential carbon revenue my business could deliver?

•    What level of investment do I need up front?

•    What challenges will I face in getting carbon credits?

•    How will investors assess the feasibility of my project?

•    How do I approach possible carbon credit buyers?

You can download the guide to Carbon Finance from the GVEP website here. 

 Read the full story on: Carbon Finance: A Guide for Sustainable Energy Enterprises and NGOs.