Efficient cookstoves improve health, air, and economyAbout 20 million people across Central America cook on rudimentary stoves using biomass, which - in addition to CO2 emissions - leads to deforestation and indoor air pollution. By providing efficient cookstoves to rural households in Honduras, this project helps to reduce CO2 emissions, fuelwood consumption and improves indoor air quality. Needing less wood for cooking saves time and money for families. Women and children, who are mainly exposed to smoke while cooking, benefit from improved health.
The stoves are installed through a franchise-like social enterprise system. Local entrepreneurs are trained and paid by the project owner to build the stoves in allocated areas. Some components of the stove are locally produced and provided. Others like cement, rebar, or bricks, which are available in the villages, are contributed by the households to foster a shared responsibility. Also, the users must agree to remove old stoves as soon as the new ones are installed.
How improved cookstoves contribute to climate actionAccording 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.