Project details
1486 · Improved cookstoves
  • Countrywide, Somalia
Efficient cookstoves preserving cultural tradition

Highly efficient improved charcoal cookstoves (ICS), known as "Jikokoas", reduce wood consumption for households in cities and close to cities in Somalia. By burning less wood for cooking about 904,970 tonnes of CO2 emissions will be saved with the cookstoves manufactured in Kenya per year. The Jikokoa design takes the local cooking culture into account and ensures that improvement does not conflict with cultural tradition and thus fosters acceptance within the community.

Usually, families use inefficient traditional cookstoves, needing lots of charcoal and wood. In addition to high emissions, this also has negative environmental effects such as deforestation, land degradation, loss of soil fertility and water retention. Also, indoor air pollution often causes respiratory diseases. The cookstoves provided by the project lead to charcoal savings and improved air quality for the households.

How improved cookstoves contribute to climate action

According to a statistic from the World Health Organization (WHO, 2022) around a third of the global population still relies on un­safe and environmentally harmful cooking methods. This includes, for example, cooking over open fires or using polluting cooking fuels, such as coal or kerosene. Improved cookstoves tackle this problem by using thermal energy more efficiently. Depending on the model, an improved cookstove can reduce fuel consumption by up to 70 percent, which significantly saves CO2 emissions and can lower the pressure on local forests as less firewood needs to be harvested.

Improved cookstove projects allow the distribution of the - often simple - devices made from metal or clay to households, small enterprises or community facilities. Especially for households, this has an impact beyond the CO2 reduction: better indoor air quality decreases respiratory diseases and families can save time and money as less fuel is needed. Improved cookstoves projects in the ClimatePartner portfolio are registered with international standards.

Contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
No PovertyFamilies using Jikokoas will save money, since less charcoal for cooking is needed.
Good Health and Well-BeingThe majority of households benefit from improved air quality with decreasing smoke levels and less breathing problems.
Affordable and Clean EnergyAn average of 126,247 cookstoves will be distributed annually.
Decent Work and Economic GrowthIt is expected that 25 jobs will be created in the region.
Climate ActionThe project saves about 904,970 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.
Project standardGold Standard VER (GS VER)TechnologyImproved cookstovesRegionCountrywide, SomaliaEstimated annual emission reductions904,974 t CO2Validated byCarbon Check (India) Private Ltd.Verified byCarbon Check (India) Private Ltd.