Improved cookstoves reduce charcoal consumption in Kenya

Kenya, Countrywide

ClimatePartner ID: 1749

* The image shown is for illustrative purposes only and is not from the actual project..

Project details

Improved cookstovesGet to know the project

Many households in Kenya cook with charcoal every day. However, traditional charcoal stoves use only a limited share of the energy generated. As a result, households need comparatively large amounts of fuel. This puts a strain on household budgets and the environment.

The cookstove project improves this situation by selling improved charcoal stoves to households in urban areas of Kenya at subsidised prices. The stoves transfer heat more efficiently than traditional models, meaning less charcoal is needed to prepare the same meals.

The reduced fuel consumption has a direct impact on households’ daily lives. During the monitoring period from 2 March 2024 to 5 May 2025, participating households saved an average of 36 percent of their spending on charcoal. Women also reported saving an average of 46 minutes per day when cooking. At the same time, 99.43 percent of the households surveyed perceived an improvement in air quality while cooking.

The climate impact results from the reduced use of charcoal. Because the improved stoves require less fuel, less non-renewable biomass is consumed. This reduces the emissions associated with cooking. The project is estimated to avoid approximately 133,782 tonnes of CO₂ per year on average.

In addition to its climate impact, the project supports local employment and training. Employees receive training in areas including project implementation and support.

How improved cookstoves contribute to climate action

According to a statistic from the World Health Organization (WHO, 2024) 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.

* The image shown is for illustrative purposes only and is not from the actual project..

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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