Globally around 2.6 billion people – 40% of the world’s population – still rely on traditional biomass (wood, crop residues, dung, etc.) to meet household cooking needs (IEA 2012). Nearly three-quarters of these biomass users are in developing Asia, one-quarter in Africa, and the rest in Latin America and the Middle East; in some countries, such as Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Uganda and Bangladesh, over 90% of the population relies on these traditional cooking fuels (IEA 2012).
Indoor air pollution from use of open fires and smoky stoves is a major health hazard, responsible for an estimated...
Carbon offsets play a role in both compliance and voluntary carbon markets. In compliance markets, such those created by the Kyoto Protocol or the EU Emissions Trading System, governments and regulated facilities have mandatory, legal emission obligations, and can use offsets, such as CERs, as an alternative to reducing their own emissions. The CDM is currently the only program that can issue offsets from developing countries for use in compliance markets. In contrast, voluntary market offset programs such as the Gold Standard (GS), the American Carbon Registry (ACR), and the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) issue offsets that can be used...
This paper reviews the methodologies currently available for crediting emission reductions from improved cookstove projects. Table 1 below compares the various program features of the pertinent CDM, Gold Standard, VCS, and ACR methodologies. These improved cookstove methodologies fall under one of two types: improved energy efficiency (e.g., CDM’s AMS-II.G) or fuel switching to renewable energy (e.g., the CDM’s AMS-I.E). ACR’s cookstove methodology adapts AMS-I.E. and focuses on fuel switching. VCS allows use of CDM methodologies and thus applies to both project types. The Gold Standard methodology could apply to both improved efficiency and fuel switching, though this paper focuses on...
Under the AMS II.G and I.E methodologies, stove projects can only receive credit for reducing CO2 emissions. Revising this approach has been considered by the CDM SSC WG, but since these methodologies require projects to assume the use of fossil fuel, it becomes inconsistent to include other emissions from future wood combustion. Under the Gold Standard methodology, however, projects may also get credit for reductions in methane and nitrous oxide (CH4 and N2O) emissions (The Gold Standard 2011). Using the Gold Standard approach, the combined effect of the additional accounting of CH4 and N2O emissions from biomass combustion, plus the...
Carbon offset markets can provide a valuable means to support the further dissemination of improved cookstoves in developing countries. Offset markets can bring new sources of privatesector finance into projects and help to establish standards for monitoring and accountability, two recognized needs for cookstove projects. In addition, the methodologies developed for offset projects can also be used for NAMAs and other forms of carbon finance, in particular those that involve payment for performance in reducing GHG emissions, to further expand implementation.
Nevertheless, this review suggests there remains considerable room for improvement in how offset methodologies account for the climate benefits...
