Improved Ghanaian Cookstove Project
Improved cookstoves utilise simple design enhancements to burn biomass fuel more cleanly and efficiently,
therefore reducing greenhouse gas emissions, alleviating pressure on forests and energy resources, reducing
harmful smoke and indoor air pollution, and saving families money and time acquiring fuel.
This Gold Standard certified project manufactures and distributes improved cookstoves to some of the country’s
most populated regions, using carbon finance to make the stoves affordable for households.
The Importance of
Improved Cookstoves
Over 2.7 billion people, or one-third of the world’s population,
rely on burning biomass (such as wood fuels, charcoal and
dung) in traditional stoves for their daily cooking needs1. These
traditional cooking methods are inefficient and dirty, meaning
they not only contribute to climate change and environmental degradation, but to poor health and poverty, particularly
among women and children.
In urban settings, the inefficient use of biomass puts a real
strain on families, who often spend over 20% of their income
on traditional biomass fuels for cooking.
The inefficient use of biomass also causes deforestation
when the biomass is not replenished, leading to the loss of
biodiversity and watersheds, and causing hazardous mudslides and desertification.
Burning biomass produces carbon dioxide when harvested
unsustainably (i.e. not replenished). The environmental
impact is increased when wood or charcoal from
unsustainable sources is burned in traditional stoves,
as they generate additional greenhouse gases, such as
methane and nitrous oxides, along with smoke containing
hazardous substances like carbon monoxide and
particulate matter.
According to the World Health Organisation, the indoor
smoke from household biomass use ranks in the top 10
risk factors for the global burden of disease. It’s linked to
childhood pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease and lung cancer among other diseases.
The number of premature deaths from household air
pollution (almost 1.5 million per year) is greater than
the number of premature deaths caused by malaria or
tuberculosis. And, particularly in Lesser Developed
Countries and Sub-Saharan Africa, the total number of
people using biomass fuels for cooking is predicted to
increase between now and 2030.
In rural areas, reliance on biomass also contributes to
poverty and gender disparities as the long and arduous time
spent, especially by women and children, on collecting wood
fuel could be spent on other productive activities and education.
The CarbonNeutral Company - a world-leading provider of carbon reduction solutions
London T: +44 20 7833 6000 E: [email protected]
New York T: 1-646-367-5800 E: [email protected]
www.carbonneutral.com
“World Energy Outlook 2011”, IEA, 2011
1
The Project
Based on kitchen performance tests, the improved
cookstove used in this project is 33% more fuel-efficient than
a traditional stove which results in GHG emission reductions
(CO2, N2O and CH4) and also a reduction in other air
pollutants.
The stove’s original retail price was too high for the average
user in Ghana. Carbon finance enables the project
developer to provide a 10 - 12.5% discount to buyers of the
cook stoves by using revenue from the sale of carbon credits
as a subsidy. Households are given 20% off the retail price if
they surrender their functioning inefficient stove of roughly similar capacity.
To further lower the financial hurdle, customers can purchase
the new stove on credit and pay off the balance from the fuel
savings they make across the first year of using the improved
cookstove. Revenue from carbon credits has also allowed
the project developer to invest in an awareness and
marketing campaign, which includes training staff and
customers.
Stoves are produced at five facilities within Ghana and are
driven out to major towns and market centres within the
project area, where they’re distributed via independent
retailers and sales people. To date, the project has employed
16 permanent staff and 560 contractors, comprised of 343
retailers and 217 artisans.
The distribution team makes use of a system of rebate cards,
collecting end user personal information that enables the
monitoring of stove use. The emission reductions associated
with the project are calculated from the data collected during
household surveys and independent third party field studies.
To date, over 170,000 stoves have been distributed, generating
about 356,000 tonnes in GHG reductions.
The Gold Standard’s Sustainable Development Model
also means that the manufacturing of the cookstoves
employs sustainable processes. The cook stove manufacturer
ensures that its workers dispose of waste such as paint
and fuel by-products to a municipal waste collection point.
As of 2010 the production centres fire the kilns with 50%
palm kernel shells, which are a readily available byproduct
(collected from small processors of palm kernel shells in
the Asamankese and Kade areas of the Eastern region).
Previously 100% of the heat was generated using
unsustainably harvested wood.
BURKINA FASO
BENIN
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COTE C’IVORE
ATLANTIC OCEAN
Project area coordinates:
This project takes place in the Greater Accra, Ashanti, Central and Eastern
regions. The improved cookstoves are distributed to communities throughout
these regions.
Project Location
The World Health Organisation estimates that exposure to
indoor air pollution is responsible for 16,600 deaths per year in
Ghana. The stoves are distributed to communities in some of
Ghana’s most populated areas: Greater Accra Region, Ashanti
Region, Central Region and the Eastern Region.
The people in the target areas mainly use charcoal as a
cooking fuel because it is the most economical choice.
The wood for the charcoal comes from forest stands and
savannah across the country, including specifically the Afram
Plains, Brong Ahafo and the Volta regions. These regions are the
most fertile and green parts of Ghana and host an array of natural
beauty such as the Wli Waterfalls.
The charcoal producers in Ghana use the earth mound method
which is wasteful and has a carbonisation rate of eight tonnes of
wood to one tonne of charcoal.
The improved stoves are more efficient at generating heat,
requiring less charcoal, which in turn relieves Ghana’s forests
from the threat of deforestation.
The CarbonNeutral Company - a world-leading provider of carbon reduction solutions
London T: +44 20 7833 6000 E: [email protected]
New York T: 1-646-367-5800 E: [email protected]
www.carbonneutral.com