Facts on U.S. Support for Clean Cooking Sector, Clean Cookstoves – 21 November 2014
U.S. Department of State
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, D.C.
November 21, 2014
Fact Sheet
The United States’ Expanded Support to the Clean Cooking Sector and the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves
Secretary of State John Kerry, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Rajiv Shah, and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy announced on Nov. 21, 2014 renewed and enhanced support by the United States for the clean cooking sector and the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (Alliance).
These actions will help improve health, reduce environmental degradation, mitigate climate change, and generate economic empowerment and opportunity for women and girls.
The Alliance is a public-private partnership led by the United Nations Foundation that aims to create a thriving global market for clean and efficient household cooking stoves and fuels.
- In January 2015, the Alliance will launch Phase 2 of its ten-year Strategic Business Plan.
Nearly 3 billion people have little choice but to cook over open fires or traditional stoves. The World Health Organization estimates more than 4 million people die prematurely every year because of exposure to smoke from these stoves; these exposures rank as the world’s fourth worst health risk – and the second worst for women and girls.
Cookstoves also account for more than 20 percent of global emissions of black carbon – an important short-lived pollutant that impacts near-term climate change and the health of local communities.
The United States anticipates contributing up to $200 million through 2020 towards an enhanced range of work in the clean cooking sector, including: attracting up to $25 million in financing by reducing the risk banks face in providing loans to cookstove businesses; investing $59 million in new research to build the evidence base for clean cooking interventions; and contributing $16 million towards field implementation activities.
The United States is also working to develop a guarantee financing package to mobilize an additional $100 million in private financing for the clean cooking sector.
These new contributions will help the Alliance achieve its goal of enabling 100 million homes to adopt clean and efficient cooking solutions by 2020.
These contributions build on the United States’ initial five-year commitment from 2011-2015 and bring the cumulative ten-year U.S. contribution to the clean cooking sector and the Alliance up to a possible $325 million.
All projected support is subject to the availability of funds.
Department of State – up to $2.5 million
• The Department of State will continue to utilize its diplomatic outreach to support Alliance efforts both globally and in the Alliance’s focus countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The Department is also investing up to $2.5 million to: 1) scale adoption of household energy products by increasing the number of women entrepreneurs who are able to effectively and efficiently distribute these products, and 2) identify innovative financing options to support the deployment of cooking stoves with climate benefits, in the context of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition.
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) – up to $135 million
• USAID – through two of its Development Credit Authority loan guarantee vehicles, and in partnership with the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) – will mobilize up to $125 million in new private financing for manufacturers and distributors of clean cookstoves and cooking fuel. More specifically, USAID and SIDA are:
— Launching a $100 million credit facility, in partnership with three international financial institutions, to support the proliferation of household technology products. This facility may attract $25 million in new private lending that will enable clean stove and fuel enterprises to expand their product lines, increase production, and reach new markets.
— Working on developing, in partnership with anchor financial partners and institutional investors, a guarantee financing package dedicated to mobilizing an additional $100 million in private financing for manufacturers and distributors of clean stoves and fuels.
• USAID will contribute $10 million to support market development and engage private-sector participation to help scale adoption of stoves and fuels that meet household energy needs and release fewer pollutants. The goal of these efforts is to improve health, reduce environmental degradation, mitigate climate change, foster economic growth, and empower women.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – $21.6 million
• For the 2015-2020 period, EPA plans to invest $15 million to continue its leadership and research towards achieving the environmental and health benefits of clean and efficient cooking, with a focus on: laboratory and field evaluation of cookstoves and fuels; developing international standards; and health, climate, and air quality research on the impacts of clean cooking. In addition, EPA has expanded its original five-year commitment by $6.6 million, primarily to research cleaner technologies and fuels for cooking, lighting, and heating homes.
Department of Health and Human Services
• National Institutes of Health (NIH) – $34.4 million
— NIH plans to invest $30 million to support health research and training to improve the health and lives of those at risk from household burning of solid fuels. NIH also expanded its original five-year commitment (2010-2015) by $4.4 million. These investments include health evaluations of stove rollout programs, study of stove adoption behavior, enhancing exposure science, development of biomarkers, and stove interventional trials. Up to one half of these grants and projects will be supported through targeted programs.
— Centers for Disease Control (CDC) – $6.5 million
• CDC plans to invest $6.5 million towards evaluating cookstove programs to better understand their public health benefits and key determinants of adoption, and to provide scientific validation of the health benefits of clean and safe cooking. CDC will focus its investment on efforts that support bringing clean and safe cooking solutions to scale.
Additional Federal Agencies Providing Support:
• The Overseas Private Investment Corporation is renewing its original commitment of up to $50 million in debt financing or insurance that meets their credit and lending standards to support businesses that manufacture, sell, or purchase clean cooking stoves and fuels.
• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will continue its work with scientists in other countries to monitor and assess the global climate impacts of black carbon emissions and to assess the potential climate benefits of switching to clean cookstoves.
• The Peace Corps will ensure that its cookstove programs – training community members in construction and maintenance, providing ongoing support in sustaining their use, and helping families and others access needed financing – are closely aligned with Alliance strategy.
