Zambia and Switzerland have authorised a new mitigation activity that will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while at the same time contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Zambia. The activity ‘Modern Energy Cooking Zambia’ has been developed by Emerging Cooking Solutions, trading as SupaMoto with the support of the Supporting Preparedness for Article 6 Cooperation (SPAR6C) Program and is financially supported by the Foundation for Climate Protection and Carbon Offset KliK. By purchasing the resulting Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs), the KliK Foundation is making the mitigation activity financially viable.

The Government of Zambia has made tremendous strides in its preparedness for Article 6 Cooperation under the Paris Agreement. With the support of SPAR6C – a programme led globally by the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and implemented in Zambia by GFA Consulting Group (GFA) and UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre (UNEP-CCC), the program, funded by the German Federal Minis-try for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN) through the International Climate Initiative (IKI) – has facilitated the establishment of Zambia’s Carbon Market Governance, including the development of Zambia’s Green Economy and Climate Change (Carbon Market) Regulations, Carbon Market Framework, national Carbon Registry and Bilateral Framework engagements.

The Modern Energy Cooking activity is one of 3 pilot mitigation activities selected by the Govern-ment of Zambia to receive support from SPAR6C. In particular, the programme has supported the development of a Mitigation Activity Idea Note (MAIN), followed by a more detailed Mitigation Activity Design Document (MADD), including the financing for the validation process as part of demonstrating Article 6 mitigation activity development.

The activity marks one of Zambia’s first mitigation activities to be authorised and implemented under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and it is the second Article 6.2 activity under the Zambia-Switzerland Bilateral Agreement.

In November 2025, the Government of the Republic of Zambia and the Swiss Federal Council signed a bilateral climate agreement to cooperate on reducing greenhouse gas emissions under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement at the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Belém, Brazil.

SupaMoto‘s concept of modern cooking operates a vertically integrated model: sustainable wood residues from plantation sawmills within Zambia are processed into biomass pellets and distributed through a last-mile agent network. Households receive the SupaMoto forced-air gasifier stove, a Tier-4 technology featuring an integrated Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled fan. The fan is powered by a battery that is recharged using a small solar panel included in the cookstove package. SupaMoto has benefited from strategic and financial advisory support by the European programme GET.invest, which included advisory on how to leverage future carbon revenues to secure immediate pre-financing necessary for the business growth.

Like many other African countries, Zambia faces ongoing deforestation in part because urban cooking continues to rely on inefficient charcoal stoves. Over 80% of urban households rely on charcoal as a cooking fuel, also posing severe health risks from household air pollution. This activity addresses those problems by facilitating a full technology and fuel switch for urban families in densely populated provinces in Lusaka, Central, Copperbelt, and North-Western provinces. It displaces primary urban charcoal use by deploying approximately 200,000 advanced Tier-4 micro-gasification stoves fuelled by domestically produced sustainable biomass pellets. The activity removes the high upfront cost of modern appliances, providing households with a clean, affordable, and digitally monitored alternative to traditional charcoal cooking.

The Government of Zambia has identified carbon finance in its current Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change as an opportunity to catalyse invest-ment in mitigation activities that facilitate the achievement of its NDCs and general transition to a low carbon economy. The carbon finance to be received from the KliK Foundation for the SupaMoto activity is one such example of the vital catalyst for this transition. It removes the primary barrier to adoption – the high capital cost of advanced stoves – allowing SupaMoto to provide the hardware through an Energy Subscription Service model: Customers pay a small enrolment fee and purchase pellets, while SupaMoto recovers its investment costs through carbon revenues. With advisory support from GET.invest, Supamoto is able to leverage future carbon revenues to secure immediate pre-financing necessary for the growth. Furthermore, the project utilises a state-of-the-art digital monitoring, reporting and verification (dMRV) system powered by platform provider IXO, tracking every pellet sale and verifying stove usage via seasonal, sensor-based Kitchen Performance Tests (KPTs). This ensures a high-integrity, dynamic baseline that goes beyond the ambition level of the country’s NDC package.

While Zambia’s NDC expresses the goal to reduce wood-fuel reliance, it provides no financed mechanism for large-scale pellet stove deployment; thus, this activity represents a material regulatory surplus and a fully additional mitigation effort.

The activity delivers benefits that go well beyond carbon reduction. By using plantation-sourced sawmill residues instead of hardwood charcoal, it helps not only protect Zambia’s native forests, preserving biodiversity and vital ecosystem services, but improves daily life by eliminating harmful indoor smoke and carbon monoxide. Its high efficiency cuts fuel costs by around 50% and cooking time. The activity also strengthens the wider economy, supporting green jobs in manufacturing, logistics, and data management.