We have one project in operation in Ghana: Efficient Cook Stoves.

Ghana, Cook Stoves

Project Location: Ghana; towns of Accra and Kumasi, with extension to the provincial towns.

Project Type: Gold Standard VER Project

Emissions Reductions: Expected to generate 20,000 tonnes in 2008, rising to 50,000 in 2010, increasing thereafter with the aim to reach 100,000 tonnes per year by the 7th year.

Baseline (situation without project): Inefficient charcoal stoves

Project Status: Implementation

Validation: TÜV Rheinland (validation underway)

Project Start: November 2007

Summary: Ghana has one of the highest deforestation rates in Africa, with current levels of wood-fuel consumption far exceeding forest growth. Wood and charcoal provide more than 80% of Ghana’s domestic energy, with charcoal predominating in cities and wood in rural areas.  Charcoal is produced from inefficient kilns with a carbonization ratio of around 8 tonnes of wood to 1 tonne of charcoal. These kilns are themselves responsible for high greenhouse gas emissions.

Most Ghanaian families cook with charcoal in a metal grate or ‘coal-pot’ that burns very inefficiently. The project replaces these coal pots with an efficient stove, known as the Gyapa, that reduces charcoal consumption by 25%.  The stoves also reduce smoke levels.  UN studies show that the smoke from open fires and traditional stoves kills 1.5 million people worldwide every year.

Under existing conditions there is no mass market for improved stoves, primarily due to the low cash incomes of the majority of the population.  To transform the market, significant barriers need to be overcome: lack of technical and business capacity in manufacture and promotion, lack of finance for promotion and marketing drives, and the need for an affordable price for the improved stoves.  The carbon finance overcomes these barriers.

Additional benefits include a reduction in fuel demand, cutting costs for stove users and improving the livelihoods of the poor.  The project also builds local manufacturing, business and professional skills.