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Cleaner air for the poorest homes
Smoke from open fires and traditional indoor cookstoves kills 1.9 million people every year. A unique partnership involving the UN and a range of public and private partners is now working to provide millions with a cleaner, safer way of cooking.
Every day, many of the world’s poorest people across Africa, Asia and Latin America are exposed to fumes from cooking inside their homes with fuels such as wood, animal dung or charcoal. Over time, preparing simple meals for a family can lead to serious respiratory illnesses and even cancer. Almost 2 million people die every year. Most are women and children.
Now a unique partnership is working to build a self-sufficient global industry in new, cleaner-burning stoves that can save lives. Shell and the independent charity Shell Foundation joined forces with the UN and other public and private partners to create the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves in 2010. It is the first partnership of its kind to tackle the challenge of indoor air pollution.
As a partner, Shell is committing $6 million over three years to help drive the production and wider distribution of stoves that are safer and more efficient.
Shell Foundation helps build self-sustaining enterprises to meet a range of social and environmental challenges. In 2007 it joined with Envirofit International – now also part of the Global Alliance – to design and produce cleaner-burning stoves that are affordable to those most at risk from indoor pollution.
The Envirofit stoves cut cooking times by at least half, and reduce smoke and toxic emissions by up to 80%. They also use up to 60% less fuel than traditional stoves. This allows many users to cover the cost of the stove – typically between $15 and $30 – within a few months through the fuel they save.
The Global Alliance will significantly step up the drive to spread the use of cleaner-burning stoves. It aims to see such stoves in 100 million homes by 2020.
See inside a cleaner-burning cookstove
Envirofit International, a non-profit organisation, worked with research partners in developing a new cleaner-burning stove. They used mathematical modelling and advanced materials to produce a stove that is robust and highly efficient. The stove, which has a patent pending, cuts smoke and harmful gases significantly compared to traditional cooking fires. Some people are using the stoves to improve efficiency and save fuel in their small businesses, from candle-making to roadside restaurants.
