Cleaner Cook Stoves in Rwanda

  • 1. No Poverty
  • 7. Affordable Clean Energy
  • 8. Work + Economic Growth
  • 13. Climate Action

In Rwanda, firewood accounts for at least 86% of energy consumption and is the primary cooking fuel for 98% of rural households. The distribution of fuel-efficient cook stoves reduces the amount of wood burning in households, which means less harmful smoke, less indoor air pollution, and fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

The stoves are designed and produced in-country, providing much-needed training and employment to the region and ensuring that they are tailored to the cooking needs of families. CO2balance works closely with local NGOs and governments to ensure that stoves are distributed to regions without pre-existing markets for efficient wood burning stoves. The stove is supplied at a highly-subsidised rate to ensure affordability for families unfamiliar with improved devices; in this way, CO2balance hopes to kick-start demand for improved cooking technology across the country.

This programme is comprised of fourteen micro projects, each of which will create 10,000 tonnes of emissions reductions through reducing the combustion of unsustainably-harvested biomass. The programme aims to reduce pressure on woodlands and wildlife, reduce indoor air pollution and improve the lives of local families.

In numbers:

  • 140,000 tonnes of C02 emissions prevented
  • 22,430 families positively impacted
  • 109,907 people positively impacted
  • 33,645 children positively impacted
  • 75,000 tonnes wood (trees) saved

This project is financed by Climate Corporation under CO2balance’s Global Micro Programme of Activities. 

“I like the stove mainly because of its favourable performance in the kitchen: it decreases the quantity of wood used and it gives out less smoke so it keeps the kitchen clean. I encourage the neighbours to buy the same improved cookstove because it helps both for families in the kitchen and the region to preserve more trees.”
Cecile Ngendahayo from Bugasera, Rwanda