Contribution project

Enabling women in at-risk communities to make the transition to clean energy

India, Countrywide

ClimatePartner ID: 1350

Project details

Microloans for solar lamps + improved cookstovesGet to know the project

The project enables women microentrepreneurs in rural areas of India to access funding for improved cookstoves and solar lamps and helps to build supply chains in remote regions. The women use these products for both their businesses (e.g. cookstoves for small restaurants or solar lamps to extend the opening hours of a small shop) and their homes (e.g. to provide a safe source of light for children to study after dark). The money saved on fuel enables the women to repay the loans. Organised in self-help groups, the women meet regularly to support each other, monitor satisfaction, and encourage the use of clean energy products. Each group has a clean energy leader who manages after-sales support in case the products need servicing or repair. Some women work as clean energy demonstrators, travelling to nearby villages to educate others about the benefits of the new products. In this way, they enable more women to take the first step on their clean energy journey.

867,980 t CO₂Estimated annual emissions reductions

Project Standard

The project contributes to the the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals

"During my project visit to India, I was extremely impressed by the women micro-entrepreneurs. Despite adverse conditions, they master their everyday lives and implement their own business ideas. Our project supports them with microloans for improved cookstoves and solar lamps. I am proud of the close cooperation with the project developer MicroEnergy Credits. Together, we have been able to empower women to drive the energy transition in India and earn their own living."

Sascha LafeldChief Carbon Officer & Member of the Executive Committee

How microloans for improved cookstoves and solar lamps contribute to climate action

Open fires and kerosene lamps are still widely used in rural India, despite the environmental damage they cause and the risks of fire, injury, and poor respiratory health. Many energy-efficient products are often expensive or difficult to access in remote areas, making projects like this one especially necessary.

Improved cookstoves are more energy efficient and generate less indoor smoke pollution. Solar lamps replace kerosene lamps by using sunlight to generate their electricity. The use of both products significantly reduces carbon emissions and can alleviate pressure on local forests as less firewood is needed. For local people, the benefits go beyond carbon reduction: better indoor air quality prevents respiratory diseases and families can save time and money with the reduced need for fuel or firewood. Improved cookstove and solar lamp projects in the ClimatePartner portfolio are registered with these international standards.

The project aims to contribute to these United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Project facts

Climate projects generally fall into one of three groups: carbon reduction, carbon removal, or carbon avoidance. Carbon reduction projects reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced by a specific activity (e.g., improved cookstoves). Carbon removal projects remove carbon from the atmosphere by sequestering it in carbon sinks (e.g., reforestation). Carbon avoidance projects avoid greenhouse gas emissions entering the atmosphere (e.g., protecting forests from deforestation with REDD+ projects).

All climate projects are based on international standards. They set processes and requirements which carbon projects must fulfill to be recognised as a proven method of reducing carbon emissions.

Climate projects demonstrably reduce, remove, or avoid greenhouse gas emissions. This is achieved with various technologies, ranging from nature-based solutions to social impact projects and renewable energies.

Most standards on the voluntary carbon market list their projects in public registries. The registries are used to store project data and track issuances and retirements of verified emission reductions. The registry ID can be used to identify projects in the standard registry.

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Climate projects go through third-party validation and verification. Verification happens regularly after each monitoring period. A validation and verification body checks and assesses whether the values and project activities stated in the monitoring report are correct and verifies them. As with validation, visits to the project site are often part of the process.

Climate projects go through third-party validation and verification. Validation happens early in the project life cycle and ensures that the project design is in line with current processes and requirements. This phase often also involves field visits with on-site interviews and analyses. Auditors are accredited, impartial assessors who have to be approved as a validation and verification body (VVB) by the standards body.

This figure shows the estimated annual emission reductions calculated before the project started. The actual number of emissions saved in each monitoring period may differ. The background to this process is that in order to be registered as a climate project, the project operator must submit the calculation of the estimated emissions savings using the ex-ante methodology in a Project Design Document (PDD), which is similar to a business plan. This calculation is validated by an independent auditor. The values determined in the PDD are recalculated during regular monitoring periods based on actual project performance, documented in a monitoring report, and verified again by independent auditors at the end of the monitoring period to ensure a robust process. Independent verification thus provides ex-post verification of actual emission reductions. Verified emission reductions are not distributed until the savings have actually been made.

* For certified projects only: the project-related information on this page is based on the documents in the register.

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