Every day, kitchens in schools and other public institutions across Kenya cook for hundreds, sometimes thousands of people. Yet many still depend on traditional stoves and large quantities of firewood to prepare those meals. Kenya’s public institutions consume an estimated 1.3 million tonnes of firewood and 46,200 tonnes of charcoal each year, with schools accounting for the largest share. For a single primary school, traditional stoves can require around 160 tonnes of firewood a year, compared with approximately 64 tonnes when using marginally improved stoves. This comes at a cost beyond the kitchen. Heavy firewood use contributes to pressure on Kenya’s forests, which lose approximately 84,700 hectares each year, with a further 14,934 hectares degraded. It also adds to institutional operating costs and exposes kitchen staff and learners to smoke and particulate matter.

This Mitigation Activity will bring a more efficient approach to institutional cooking. BURN will deploy ECOA Pro Line institutional cookstoves across approximately 3,280 institutions nationwide, including ECOA Pro Air forced-draft briquette stoves, enabling institutions to switch from firewood to sustainable agricultural-waste biomass briquettes. Available in 80L, 200L and 400L sizes, the stainless-steel, chimney-vented stoves achieve Tier 4 performance for PM2.5, efficiency and safety, and Tier 5 for CO₂. Each stove is also equipped with a heat-based Stove Use Monitor, with usage data feeding into BURN’s digital Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (dMRV) framework to support ongoing monitoring of stove use.

Carbon finance is central to making this transition possible. KliK’s guaranteed ITMO purchase enables BURN to raise upfront capital and reduce the cost of the stoves for institutions, which can then pay in instalments. Without carbon revenue, the programme would not be viable. The activity is aligned with Kenya’s conditional NDC and the institutional priorities of the Kenya National Cooking Transition Strategy (2024–2028), but participation remains voluntary and is not part of a mandated NDC implementation package.

For an institutional kitchen, a more efficient stove can have an impact far beyond the firewood pile. When schools and other public institutions use less fuel and produce less smoke, the benefits can reach kitchen staff, learners, institutional budgets, local employment and Kenya’s forests.

SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being – Cleaner kitchens, healthier working environments
Institutional kitchens can be smoky, demanding workplaces. The chimney-vented ECOA Pro Line stoves channel smoke out of kitchens while improving combustion efficiency and reducing particulate and gas emissions. This can improve air quality for kitchen staff and learners and reduce the occupational health risks associated with prolonged exposure to cooking smoke.

SDG 4: Quality Education – Helping school budgets go further
For schools, firewood is the primary variable cost of institutional kitchens. Using less fuel can free up part of the budget for other priorities, creating an opportunity for schools to direct savings towards student nutrition, learning resources and other educational needs.

SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy – A better way to power institutional meals
Approximately 3,280 institutions are expected to gain access to affordable, reliable and modern cooking through high-efficiency firewood and renewable-briquette stoves, helping institutions meet large-scale cooking needs while using less fuel.

SDG 8: Decent Work – Creating jobs around clean cooking
The transition also creates economic opportunity. The activity is projected to create around 150 direct jobs across manufacturing, distribution, installation and after-sales support, building skills and employment around Kenya’s growing clean-cooking sector.

SDG 15: Life on Land – Less pressure on Kenya’s forests
Institutional kitchens are major consumers of firewood. By reducing the amount of wood required to prepare meals, the activity can ease pressure on forests and support reduced deforestation in a country that loses approximately 84,700 hectares of forest each