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The combustion of wood fuels on open fires is inefficient and has a negative impact on the climate. According to international organisations such as the UNFCCC and UNEP, billions of people worldwide still lack access to improved cooking technologies. The Clean Cooking Alliance estimates that the burning of non-renewable sources of wood based fuels globally is equivalent to emissions of around one gigatonne of CO2 per year – accounting for approximately 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Improved cookstoves offer an energy-efficient alternative. Compared to open fire cooking, they enable cleaner combustion and significantly reduce wood fuel consumption. Depending on the stove model, households can save between 30–60% of their annual use of wood fuels. Investments in carbon finance for efficient cookstoves contribute to reducing emissions by decreasing the combustion of non-renewable biomass, thereby helping to preserve CO2 binding forest resources.
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When households take part in a climate protection initiative, such as acquiring a subsidised improved cookstove, they experience a variety of direct benefits – some of which align with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), defined by the United Nations. Indoor air pollution is significantly reduced, leading to better health. Lower fuel consumption means that families, particularly women and children, spend less time collecting firewood – time that could be used for income generation or education – or less money is spent on purchasing cooking fuels. In addition, cooking becomes cleaner and more efficient. Local value chains offer further opportunities: the improvement around clean cooking can contribute to gender equity by empowering women in local communities; new jobs in sales, maintenance, and the production of cookstoves, briquettes or pellets can support economic development. The activity creates an opportunity to purchase an affordable cookstove.
Quantifying emission reductions from cookstove activities involves complex monitoring of fuel consumption and usage rates of implemented stoves, as well as the volume of unsustainably harvested woody biomass that will not regrow. The amount of non-renewable biomass is determined by a parameter known as the fraction of non-renewable biomass (fNRB).
But determining the fNRB is associated with uncertainties, such as how to measure non-renewable biomass. Where technically possible, one approach is to require more precise measurements during the implementation of an activity. Another approach – that Switzerland has agreed with its partner countries – is to use the conservative value of 30%, meaning that 30% of the woody biomass is estimated to be harvested unsustainably.
However, if newer studies indicate a different value for a particular country, an adjusted fNRB value can be negotiated between Switzerland and the respective partner country. Until then, all activity owners are obliged to use the fNRB value of 30%. This has to be specified in the Mitigation Activity Design Documents.
The KliK Foundation provides financial support for greenhouse gas mitigation activities such as the implementation of improved cookstoves. These activities must be in line both with Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement and the bilateral climate agreements between Switzerland and the partner countries in which an activity will take place.
By purchasing the resulting emission reductions, so called Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs), the KliK Foundation fulfils a part of the Swiss climate target under the Paris Agreement. With this financial support, the Foundation makes the mitigation activity financially viable.
Together with its implementing partners, the KliK Foundation is bringing real change to life – helping tens of thousands of households in Switzerland’s partner countries transition to cleaner, more efficient cookstoves. All of this takes place within the Swiss carbon offset mechanism.
The criteria for the authorisation of an activity under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement, including the definition of methodological parameters such as the fNRB, are defined by the regulatory authorities in Switzerland and in the partner countries.
Activity owners must demonstrate that their mitigation activity would not be possible without financial support through carbon finance and that the activity is additional to the country’s efforts to reduce emissions with the aim to reach its nationally determined contribution (NDC). External experts validate the documentation of each activity.
With the support of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) and Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) is conducting an in-depth assessment of the activity, which can take up to a year. At the same time, the partner country is also conducting a thorough review. If both partners reach a positive conclusion, the activity will be authorised.
In 2024, Switzerland and Ghana authorised the first cookstove activity under Article 6.2. It aims to implement around 180,000 cookstoves in rural Ghana.
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