Sudan Cookstove project wins Best Carbon Offsetting Project award
A project that distributes low smoke cookstoves to vulnerable communities in El Fasher, has today been announced as Best Carbon Offsetting Project in the Environmental Finance 10th Annual Voluntary Carbon Market Awards.
The awards are selected by carbon market industry participants who vote for the projects and companies that they believe are driving change in the world of voluntary carbon finance.
Practical Action’s project uses carbon finance to operate the project in the El Fasher area of Sudan. The Sudan cleaner cookstoves project is the first registered carbon credit project in Sudan as well as the first to be developed in a conflict zone.
The low smoke stoves distributed through the project radically improve the health of women and children in Darfur, who are often impacted from breathing in smoke generated by indoor wood cookstove fires. Low-smoke stoves prevent indoor air pollution, which kills more people every year than malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis combined. Women and children are most vulnerable to this risk.
At the same time, the project reduces carbon emissions that contribute to climate change as well as tackling the impacts of environmental degradation caused by deforestation for wood fuel. 90% of households in Sudan use biomass for cooking and intense conflict for several years has caused damage to native tree cover.
Muna Eltahir, Director of Practical Action Sudan, said: “We are delighted that this ingenious project has received this award. The project helps people living in one of the harshest environments on earth, thanks to climate change, to dramatically improve their lives. Practical Action’s unique solutions-focused approach helps us to change the systems that keep people poor and this project is a shining example of that.”
Practical Action developed and continues to run the project with sustainability consultancy EcoAct. The third phase of the project, that will build on the 12,000 stoves already delivered to households in El Fasher is financed by German company Friedrich Scharr.
The Sudan Low Smoke Stoves project meets the strict requirements of The Gold Standard carbon credit certification process which requires projects to reduce carbon emissions and deliver measurable sustainable development and environmental benefits to local communities.