IEA estimates 850,000 annual African deaths tied to cooking smoke
Carbon credit financing is enabling clean cooking companies to sell induction cookers and other electric appliances to African households at prices that undercut the daily fuel cost of charcoal, The Associated Press reported from Nairobi. The mechanism — underwritten by future revenues from emission reductions attributed to households displacing traditional biomass — is being deployed across a continent where nearly 1 billion people still cook with charcoal or firewood.
Mary Kavutha, a Nairobi businesswoman with two young children, described the shift in an interview with AP. Two years ago, she relied on a charcoal stove that cost about $1.15 in fuel each day and filled her kitchen with smoke. Today, she uses an induction cooker that runs on electricity tokens costing 80 cents for several meals.
“It cooks much faster, and is much safer because I have young children,” Kavutha told AP. “With charcoal there was always smoke in the house. Now I can cook indoors comfortably, and I spend much less.”
The International Energy Agency estimates that household air pollution from charcoal and firewood contributes to about 850,000 deaths annually on the African continent, the AP report said. Nearly 1 billion Africans still rely on these fuels for everyday cooking, according to AP.
Like Kavutha, millions of other African households have switched not out of climate concerns but because the stoves are affordable once underwritten by carbon credit financing, AP reported. The financial structure allows clean cooking companies to raise capital against future revenues from emission reductions.
Clean cooking companies are betting that carbon finance could become Africa’s most important tool for expanding cleaner household energy and reducing pressure on forests, AP reported. The same financing mechanism has long been criticized over concerns about the credibility of some projects.