Rural road in Kenya

    Kenya and Senegal: Cooperation in action Improved cooking technologies help protect the climate

    In Kenya and Senegal, many people use open fires to do their daily cooking. These fires are fuelled by wood or other biomass. This generates substantial greenhouse gas emissions and contributes in some areas to deforestation. Moreover, the smoke represents a health hazard.

    A project financed jointly by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and partner governments is deploying improved stoves to reduce the carbon footprint of cooking and improve the living conditions of women in particular.

    Around 15 per cent of the global demand for energy is currently being covered by traditional biomass such as firewood, charcoal and plant residues. Some 2.8 billion people cook their daily meals with such biomass. Kenya and Senegal are no exception: more than 80 per cent of Kenya's people use biomass for cooking and heating. The corresponding figures in Senegal are 58 per cent of the urban population and 86 per cent of the rural population.

    Women producers of ceramic inserts based in the Kaolack region of Senegal.

    Women producers of ceramic inserts based in the Kaolack region of Senegal.

    Burning biomass releases greenhouse gas emissions. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the use of improved cookstoves in place of open fires would reduce emissions by between 0.6 and 2.4 gigatonnes of CO₂ equivalent annually.

    In Kenya and Senegal, improved stoves could prevent about 25 megatonnes CO₂-equivalent emissions up to 2030. The project, over its duration, is to lead to the equivalent of over six megatonnes of carbon dioxide being saved. Thus, changing the type of fuel used for cooking is a simple and effective way of reducing emissions in these two countries. The Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of both countries take this up.


    Boosting both supply and demand

    The aim of the project is to boost the market for efficient cooking technologies and popularise their use, as this will help to reduce national consumption of biomass fuels and, consequently, greenhouse gas emissions. This is to be done by stimulating demand for these new technologies and, at the same time, increasing their availability on the supply side. Among other things, producers of the new stoves will be offered training courses and machinery to help them increase production. At the same time, significantly more people in rural areas are to take up the use of low-carbon stoves. To achieve this, the project educates potential users about the dangers of using traditional cooking fires and demonstrates the advantages of using the improved cookstoves. This two-pronged approach is to ensure long-term growth of the local market for improved cooking technologies.

    Ousmane Thiam, an Improved Fireplace Craftsman based in the Dakar region of Senegal

    Ousmane Thiam, an improved fireplace craftsman based in the Dakar region of Senegal

    Overall, the project is planned to directly benefit some eleven million people in almost two million predominantly rural households. Almost one third of these households is headed by women. Furthermore, the improved stoves reduce the probability of respiratory disease and the time spent to collect fuelwood and cook meals. As a result, users have more time to earn money. Children also benefit from the cleaner indoor air; they attend school more regularly. The dissemination of optimised stove technologies thus delivers various benefits in addition to climate change mitigation.

    With its contribution of two billion euros from the BMZ budget for the period from 2024 to 2027, Germany is among the main donors to the Green Climate Fund. Supplementary resources for projects financed jointly with the GCF and conducted by German implementing organisations (in this case 12.8 million euros from the BMZ) are generating further impacts and synergies for climate change mitigation and adaptation in Germany's partner countries. Moreover, combined financing makes a valuable contribution to donor coordination and the coherence of development cooperation.

    As at: 19/06/2024