Financing Strategies and Reducing Carbon Emissions from Cookstoves

University Of Colorado At Denver-Downtown Campus, Denver CO

Investigators

Abstract

This research project will examine the impacts of new forms of financing on the adoption and use of new cookstove technologies designed to reduce toxic and environmentally harmful emissions and improve the health of household members using the stoves. Efforts to spur the replacement of traditional, high pollution-emitting stoves with cleaner, more modern devices have been supported by a number of international programs, with efforts led by the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, which was created by the United Nations. This research project will investigate whether carbon financing is aiding or hindering the delivery of cooking technologies, their compatibility with household preferences, and their effectiveness at reducing indoor air pollution. The project will improve understanding of carbon market impacts on household-scale development as well as how carbon mitigation programs produce benefits and burdens that often accumulate in geographically and socially uneven ways. The project will advance scholarship in development geography by contributing to debates assessing the development impacts of carbon markets and by pinpointing the roles played by a diverse set of actors within complex carbon-based development projects. Project findings will help increase the health and development benefits of low carbon technology interventions and provide new perspectives on ways in which rural sustainable development activities can complement new strategies for livelihoods that rely on less carbon. With nearly one-half of the world's population using rudimentary cookstoves, the likelihood of toxic emissions leading to severe health problems is extremely high. Traditional cookstoves also emit large amounts of greenhouse gases, thereby contributing to atmospheric pollution and increasing the carbon footprint in many parts of the world. This project will focus on three core questions: (1) How does carbon financing influence the distribution of stoves with respect to stove affordability, household suitability and emissions performance? (2) How can supply chains using carbon finance be modified to improve results along each of those factors? (3) How do households influence development outcomes along the supply chain? The investigators will conduct household and production chain surveys as well as management agency interviews in two cookstove project regions in India to gain insights into decisions made for allocating flows of carbon finance to cookstove projects and strategies for improving the integration of carbon markets. They will statistically analyze data to determine the relationships among responses, subject attributes, and other conditions. Preexisting stove emissions data for all stoves will be analyzed to determine household air pollution levels for all pre- and post-carbon finance stove models. Project findings will shed light on the effectiveness of programs supported by the U.S. that encourage the adoption of energy-efficient affordable stoves that release fewer pollutants, improve human health, reduce environmental degradation, and foster economic growth.