UNHCR & BB Energy Join Forces For Pioneering Clean Cooking, Reforestation and Humanitarian Initiative

As lead partners BB Energy will lead clean cooking and reforestation initiatives at the Bidibidi Settlement in Uganda as well as clean cooking components at the Kigeme camp in Rwanda.

Across the initial pilot phase, the projects are expected to provide access to clean cooking solutions to more than 50,000 families with the aim to reduce reliance on firewood for household use. More than 7,000 hectares of degraded land will also be restored through activities such as agroforestry, assisted natural regeneration, and community-based tree planting. The projects are also expected to generate verified voluntary carbon credits from 2027 onward.

Clean Cooking and Reforestation

Over the longer-term ambition of the platform, the initiative aims to restore more than 100,000 hectares, expand clean cooking access to over one million refugees and host community members, and reduce carbon emissions by up to six million tonnes of CO₂ annually.

The announcement follows UNHCR’s earlier launch of the Refugee Environmental Protection Fund, the first large-scale refugee-led carbon finance platforms designed to mobilise voluntary carbon markets in displacement settings.

Implementation will be delivered through two consortia with defined site leadership across Uganda and Rwanda. The integrated model is designed to reduce pressure on surrounding woodlands while restoring degraded landscapes, creating green jobs and establishing structured benefit-sharing mechanisms for refugees and host communities.

The BB Energy consortium, which also includes Hamerkop, and Fairventures will lead all activities in Bidibidi settlement in Uganda and will manage the clean cooking component in Kigeme camp in Rwanda. BB Energy’s environmental subsidiary Everpath will oversee carbon asset management and structuring, with Hamerkop providing technical expertise on environmental and carbon design. The focus will be on market-based clean cooking solutions designed to reduce fuelwood dependence and associated emissions while improving household air quality. Innovest will act as FPIC consultants to the consortium providing expertise in business models, Free Prior Informed Consent, Monitoring Reporting and Verification and Community Engagement in humanitarian contexts.

A second consortia led by Farm Africa and suported by Tree Aid and ICRAF will lead activities in Kyangwali settlement in Uganda and will co-lead reforestation activities in Kigeme camp in Rwanda. Drawing on long-standing regional experience in community reforestation and landscape restoration, the consortium will implement biodiversity-focused restoration, agroforestry systems and long-term carbon sequestration activities.

Mohamed Bassatne, CEO of BB Energy said: “This pioneering partnership harnesses the power of carbon markets and private sector businesses to support UNHCR’s mission to provide protection and assistance to refugees. The 10-year plan for forest restoration and clean cooking will restore degraded habitats, improve health and well-being and advance the fight against climate change. At a time when public funding for such initiatives is increasingly constrained BB Energy is proud of its role in this highly innovative scheme.”

Siddhartha Sinha, Head of Innovative Financing, UNHCR: “This marks a structural shift in how we finance environmental and protection responses in displacement settings. By mobilising high-integrity carbon markets for clean energy and ecosystem restoration, we are demonstrating that refugee-hosting areas can attract private climate capital while delivering measurable protection, livelihood and resilience outcomes.”

The initiative fully aligns with BB Energy’s Sustainability policy and builds on BB Energy’s experience from its successful Clean Cooking Project in Rwanda.