Clean Cooking Offers Hope Across Africa

For Nairobi businesswoman Mary Kavutha, cooking indoors was once almost impossible. Until recently, the mother of two relied on a charcoal stove that she had to take outside because of the smoke it produced.

Today, she prepares breakfast inside her home using an induction cooker powered by electricity. For Kavutha, the switch was less about climate change than about everyday household costs, convenience and safety.

She says the induction cooker is faster and safer, particularly because she can use it around her young children without exposing them to charcoal smoke.

Kavutha previously spent about 150 Kenyan shillings, or $1.15, on charcoal each day. She now says a 100-shilling electricity token, worth about 80 cents, can last until the following day and cover several meals.

“When I compare it with the charcoal it is very cheaper. Because, like in a day when I was using the charcoal, I find that I am using around 150 Kenya Shillings ($1.15 ) with the charcoal per day,” she told AP.

“And with this one (induction stove), when I buy a token of 100 Kenya Shillings ($0.8), it lasts me to the second day. You find that I have used it (in preparing) my breakfast.”

Her experience reflects a wider challenge across Africa, where access to cleaner cooking remains limited despite efforts to reduce dependence on charcoal, firewood and other polluting fuels.

The International Energy Agency estimates that nearly 1 billion people across Africa still depend on such fuels.

Household air pollution associated with them contributes to about 850,000 deaths annually on the continent, according to the agency. One approach gaining attention is using carbon finance to make cleaner cooking equipment more affordable. Under the model, companies estimate the emissions avoided when households switch away from polluting fuels.

After verifying the reductions, companies can sell the resulting carbon credits, providing revenue that helps finance stove production and distribution.

That funding can reduce the upfront cost for households that might otherwise be unable to afford cleaner cooking equipment.

One company pursuing the model is Nairobi-based BURN, which produces electric and biomass cookstoves. The company says it has distributed more than 7.3 million stoves in 11 African countries. Its induction cookers are fitted with technology that lets users be monitored remotely.

The data can show how frequently a stove is used and how much electricity it consumes.

BURN founder and CEO Peter Scott says the technology allows the company to monitor usage in real time. He describes induction cooking as a major shift, noting that the cookers can boil a litre of water in about three minutes.

The company says carbon subsidies can reduce the price of an efficient biomass stove from about $40 to as little as $5.

“People said, ‘ Oh, clean cooking- how do you know if people are really using the stove or not? This is real time through GSM, so we know how many minutes per day, how many watts per day and maybe people are not that familiar with induction cooking. It’s a revolution. You know, we can boil 1 L of water in 3 minutes,” Scott told AP.

Carbon financing and pay-as-you-go arrangements can also make more expensive induction cookers available. Under the system, investors provide money upfront to support production and distribution. They can then earn returns from carbon credits generated as households reduce their use of charcoal, firewood and other polluting fuels.

Scott argues that such financing is essential if clean cooking is to expand across Africa.

“(The) only way that clean cooking is going to scale on the continent is through carbon project finance, and so it’s a great model. Governments can earn revenue from it, we earn revenue, customers get an amazing product they would never get unless they had that subsidy that’s brought by carbon project finance,” he added.

“Africa needs about 15 million stoves a year. So right now we do about 2 million stoves a year. So, we are just kind of scratching the surface. But yeah, the goal is to get to 15 million stoves per year. Of course (according to reported UN projections) Africa is going to be 4 billion people by 2100, and so the demand for clean cooking is just going through the roof.” He adds.

BURN currently produces about two million stoves annually, while the company estimates that the continent needs around 15 million each year, but reliance on carbon markets has also raised concerns.

In February, Kenyan clean cooking company Koko Networks shut down after it failed to obtain government authorisation to sell carbon credits. The collapse raised questions about the risks of depending heavily on carbon finance to fund the sector.

George Mwaniki, Kenya representative and head of air quality for the World Resources Institute Africa, says carbon credits alone cannot deliver the transition quickly enough.

“If we depend wholly on carbon credits to support the transition, it will be extremely slow and it will not happen at the pace that we need it. The other issue for carbon market is before you can trade on the carbon market, you need to build the asset.”

He argues that companies first need substantial capital to manufacture and distribute the stoves before the resulting emissions reductions can generate credits and revenue.

Despite the concerns, international funding for clean cooking is growing.

In June, the International Energy Agency announced $900 million in new financial commitments for clean cooking technologies in Africa.

The agency also said more than 30 African governments, representing about 80% of Africans without access to clean cooking, had introduced 121 clean cooking policies since the 2015 Paris climate summit.

For Kavutha, the impact is already visible inside her home. The charcoal stove she once used now sits outside, while the induction cooker lets her prepare meals indoors without smoke filling the room. She says the change has also given her greater privacy and made cooking safer around her children.

As governments and companies seek to expand clean cooking, the challenge will be making sure financing models can support the millions of households that still depend on polluting fuels.