Rwanda Improved Cookstove Initiative

Cooking using open fires or inefficient stoves contributes to greenhouse gas emissions but has also been linked to various illnesses and deaths due to household air pollution. Rwanda is amongst the list of countries identified as worst affected by lack of access to clean fuels and technologies for cooking.

In 2022, BB Energy launched a flagship project in Rwanda to replace traditional fire stoves with 500,000 Improved Cookstoves, which aim to reduce CO2 emissions by a target of eight million tonnes over the lifetime of the project.

Cooking using open fires or inefficient stoves contributes to greenhouse gas emissions but has also been linked to various illnesses and deaths due to household air pollution. Rwanda is amongst the list of countries identified as worst affected by lack of access to clean fuels and technologies for cooking.

These highly energy efficient cookstoves reduce the volume of carbon emissions per household, alleviate deforestation through decreased demand for firewood and improve the health of users by curbing the emission of toxic fumes. The manufacturing of these new devices locally has also created 200 local employment opportunities

The cookstoves will:

1) reduce the volume of emissions per household;
2) alleviate deforestation through decreased demand for wood;
3) improve the health of the households’ members by reducing the fumes emitted;
4) create local employment in the manufacturing of the new devices.

As at June 2024, 141,000 locally produced stoves have been distributed and are used by various communities throughout Rwanda. In addition to our ICS project in Rwanda, we expect to soon announce additional nature-based and energy efficiency initiatives in Southeast Asia and Africa.