How health and climate benefit from Microenergy Credits
Over 700 million people in India cook over open fire. However, the smoke produced by this method of cooking has serious health implications. Our carbon offset project aims to counteract this problem: by granting Microenergy Credits to households, families and, small businesses they can purchase energy-efficient products like cookstoves and solar lights at an affordable price.
Families buy the products locally at market price - a best practice from the microfinance sector, as giving products away for free would hit the local economy and lower the value of the products. Buying the products locally strengthens small businesses, with the project additionally supporting suppliers with training and start-up capital. And the climate benefits as well through verifiable emission reductions.
Social Impact projects include one or more technologies that create direct social added value in addition to climate action. Such projects involve the distribution of efficient cooking stoves, solar lights, or drinking water purification:
Efficient cooking stoves make better use of the energy supplied and reduce the smoke produced when cooking over an open fire. A similar problem exists when households do not have access to clean drinking water, as the water must be boiled over an open fire first before it can be used without hesitation. Remedies include the provision of drinking water treatment aids, such as filters, or access to groundwater from wells. In addition, solar lights help to illuminate the rooms and replace expensive kerosene lamps, which are a frequent cause of fire accidents. Social impact projects in the ClimatePartner portfolio are registered with international standards
TypeReduction
LocationIndia, Countrywide
StandardGold Standard
TechnologySocial Impact
Registry ID11450
Verified byEarthood Services Private Limited
Validated byEarthood Services Private Limited
Four criteria for projects to meet quality thresholds
The life cycle of a climate project
A climate project has a set life cycle consisting of various phases, from the feasibility assessment to the retirement of Verified Emission Reductions (VERs).The project developer reviews the general feasibility of the project, the project design, and the financing. Then, the Project Design Document (PDD) is prepared, which contains all the basic information about the project, such as the objective, location, timeline, and duration.
In this phase, independent auditors examine the PDD and the information it contains. This phase often also involves field visits with on-side interviews and analyses. Auditors are accredited, impartial assessors who have to be approved by the relevant standard as a validation and verification body (VVB). TÜV Nord/Süd, S&A Carbon LLC., and SCS Global Services are examples of VVBs."
Once validated, the project can be registered with a standard such as the Verified Carbon Standard or the Gold Standard. All high-quality climate projects are based on international standards. They provide the framework for project design, construction, carbon accounting, and monitoring. Recognised standards make the climate project system and the projects themselves resilient, traceable, and credible.
After the climate project has been registered, the monitoring begins. Here, the project developers monitor and document the data of the project activities and progress. The duration of the monitoring phase varies from project to project: it can cover two years, but documentation over five or seven years is also possible.
At the end of each monitoring phase, a VVB checks and assesses whether the values and project activities stated in the monitoring report are correct. As with validation, visits to the project site are often part of the verification process.
Once verified, the emission reductions that were confirmed in the verification phase can be issued as VERs. The steps of monitoring, verification, and issuance of VERs are repeated regularly and are therefore considered as a cycle.
Once a VER has been used, it must be retired. This process is also reflected in the registry. If the financing of a climate project is done through ClimatePartner, the VERs are bundled in a system certified by TÜV Austria and then retired on a regular basis. This ensures that each VER can no longer be sold and is only used once, preventing double counting.
Explore our projects
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Ceramic water filters save CO2 and improve health
Improved cookstoves worldwide – for better health and cleaner air
A certified climate project combined with additional commitment
Powering access to green energy in Africa
Turning degraded farmlands into healthy ecosystems
Improved cookstoves - better for health and the environment