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In 10 years ClimateCare has funded improved cookstoves for over 6.5 million people helping tackle one of the developing world’s leading causes of death.

Today it calls for more partners to meet its 2020 targets - to improve 20 million lives and cut 20 million tonnes of CO2.

In 10 years ClimateCare has funded improved cookstoves for over 6.5 million people helping tackle one of the developing world’s leading causes of death.

Today it calls for more partners to meet its 2020 targets - to improve 20 million lives and cut 20 million tonnes of CO2.

Published 10-30-14

Submitted by ClimateCare

Use the ClimateCare calculator to see how your business could make a difference for the people and the planet.

Improved cookstoves reduce indoor air pollution - one of the developing world’s biggest killers, cut fuel costs for families and help tackle climate change. Today, 10 years since ClimateCare pioneered the first ever improved cookstove project funded by carbon finance, it announced that with its corporate and public sector partners it has channelled finance into cookstove projects around the world, improving life for 6.5 million people and cutting 2.6 million tonnes of CO2.

ClimateCare also published ambitious targets to cut 20 million tonnes of CO2 and improve the lives of 20 million people by 2020 - calling for more Corporate and Government partners to fund cookstove and other integrated Climate+Care programmes.

“Everything we do is designed to tackle climate change, alleviate poverty and improve health,” explains CEO Edward Hanrahan. “Provision of improved cookstoves is a great example of an intervention that delivers against all three elements, and in particular improves life for women and girls. We have delivered a huge amount, in partnership with our pioneering corporate partners, but are really only scratching the surface of the issue with these numbers. So, in pursuit of our ambitious 2020 targets, we call on other corporate and government partners to help us scale up investment in cookstove projects alongside the other Climate+Care programmes we specialise in including safe water provision, irrigation and clean energy access.”

Key supporters of cookstove projects include Jaguar Land Rover, who funded the first ever Gold Standard cookstove project through ClimateCare, and who have helped provide stoves to 832,000 families. The Co-operative and Aviva have also made significant contributions helping to fund stoves to 350,000 and 57,000 families respectively.

Nearly 3 billion people in the developing world still cook food and heat their homes with traditional cookstoves or open fires. The Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 estimates that 4 million premature deaths are caused every year from exposure to smoke from these cooking methods - more than HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis combined. The impacts are particularly pronounced for women and girls.

A new calculator launched on the ClimateCare website today highlights the enormous potential for organisations to deliver benefits for both people and the environment by investing in Climate+Care cookstove and safe water programmes. For example, it shows that if everyone voluntarily offsetting carbon emissions did so through a cookstove project, together they could help improve the lives of 432 million people, saving them £7 billion in fuel costs and generating $299 million of employment.


You can get an indication of the difference your business could make by investing in cookstove projects by using the online calculator http://climatecare.org/our-vision/

The ClimateCare Cookstove Story

Back in 2004, ClimateCare was the first company in the world to fund an improved cookstove project through carbon finance.

This first project was in Bangladesh, where traditional open fires were replaced with more efficient cookstoves, saving the wood fuel used for cooking ClimateCare worked with Practical Action (formerly ITDG) to extend their work in households and improve cooking methods.

Building on this early work, ClimateCare wrote the first consolidated methodology for cooking projects. ClimateCare then structured funding for a project in Cambodia, which was the first to use the new methodology, where improved cookstoves reduced charcoal requirements by 20%. The project partner, GERES estimates that as well as improving the health of families by reducing exposure to hazardous air pollutants, creating employment through the local manufacture, retailing and maintenance of stoves, and protecting the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing deforestation, consumers have saved over $9,000,000 on fuel from the project overall.

This early work paved the way for ClimateCare and others to scale up cookstove provision. Following these initial projects ClimateCare refined the methodology and structured finance for the first ever Gold Standard Cookstove project in Uganda, where Jaguar Land Rover provided upfront investment, making them the first corporate partner to fund improved cookstoves at scale.-

A staggering 5,145,312 Gold Standard cookstove credits, from 39 projects have now been issued using the methodology written by ClimateCare with more projects entering the pipeline, leading to even greater impact in future.

Since then ClimateCare has helped structure funding for projects with NGO Relief International in Ghana and secured Results Based Finance for carbon credits from the Swedish Energy Agency for a recent CDM cookstove project - proving that the Climate+Care model also has appeal for public sector funders.

Find out how you can invest in the Climate+Care Cookstove programme at http://climatecare.org/cookstoves/

Supporting the Climate+Care approach

Aviva

Aviva has supported cookstove projects since 2007 and over the last three years alone, its Climate+Care programme has improved the lives of 395,000 people through clean cookstove and safe water projects, and cut over 250,000 tonnes of CO2.

“If there are issues that are interconnected, you have to have solutions that are interconnected. The way that Climate+Care comes together means there’s a whole raft of benefits that can be gained through an individual programme, so there can be health benefits, there can be education benefits, employment benefits. We think that is a very smart approach.” Zelda Bentham, Group Head of Environment and Climate Change, Aviva

The Co-operative

The Co-operative has worked with ClimateCare for 14 years, supporting projects that protect the environment and improve people’s lives.

Ben Norbury explains, that “Climate+Care are intrinsically linked. A lot of businesses, including The Co-operative have had a separate approach to climate change and international development and we’ve seen these approaches overlapping. Now, through Climate+Care we’re taking a more joined up approach, doing climate change mitigation work in our own Fairtrade tea supply chain. For us, there’s a definite business case for the Climate+Care approach and I think other corporates could benefit from considering a similar, integrated programme.”

Jaguar Land Rover

Jaguar Land Rover has set an ambitious target to create opportunities for 12 million people by 2020. It will deliver 5 million of these through support of Climate+Care programmes that both improve lives and protect the environment.

“The integrated Climate+Care approach makes simple business sense” Jonathan Garrett, CSR Director for Jaguar Land Rover.

Notes to editors

ClimateCare

ClimateCare mobilises the power and scale of private finance to deliver projects with positive environmental and social impacts around the world. We combine the vision of a social enterprise and the commercial experience of an investment bank. Leveraging mainstream funding, we profitably deliver some of the largest, most successful corporate sustainability initiatives in the world.

From offices in Africa, Europe and Asia Pacific we help many of the world’s leading brands, organisations and governments scale up the impact of their initiatives. By investing their resources in projects that directly combat climate change and poverty, improve health and increase community welfare, we build better futures for millions of people around the world.

Find out more at www.climatecare.org

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ClimateCare

ClimateCare

ClimateCare is a Profit with Purpose business which works with forward-thinking organisations to help turn their climate responsibilities into positive outcomes. Since 1997, ClimateCare and its partners have cut over 33 million tonnes of COâ‚‚ and improved quality of life for more than 34 million people around the world.

We have more than 20 years’ experience as a leader in the global carbon markets and climate change sector. We work with major public and private sector clients to fund sustainable development projects that reduce carbon emissions at scale, measurably increase quality of life and deliver towards the UN Global Goals. ClimateCare also advises on a range of climate change mitigation and adaptation subjects, from large scale implementation to national climate change policies.

ClimateCare is currently ranked the number one B Corp in the UK - B Corp is a global movement of more than 2,500 purpose-driven companies that are using business as a force for good.

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