SNV Study Quantifies Health Impacts of Clean Cooking
SNV, a founding partner of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (Alliance), shared new research findings this month quantifying the positive impact of clean cooking interventions on people’s health in Cambodia. In conjunction with Alliance-supported research on noncommunicable diseases, child survival, and burns, this study is a major breakthrough that can help make clean cooking interventions more marketable and attractive for traditional and results-based financing, improving the lives of millions. By proving and monetizing the health benefits of clean cookstoves and fuels, we can unlock new investment channels to scale clean cooking interventions.
SNV’s recently released report details the results of a study independently conducted by Berkeley Air Monitoring Group in Cambodia that aimed to quantify the health impacts of the ACE-1 gasifier stove and locally produced biogas stoves under the National Bio-digester Programme. The applied methodology estimates the premature death and disability averted (DALYs Averted) from using such cooking technologies. The ACE-1 study was conducted in 24 peri-urban and 24 rural wood-burning households and involved measurements of personal exposure, kitchen air pollution and stove use before and after the introduction of the stove. The biogas study was conducted in 24 rural biogas households and 24 rural control households and involved the same types of measurements.
Researchers found that the use of both the ACE-1 and biogas stoves generated a statistically significant decrease in kitchen air pollution and personal exposure, thus resulting in positive health outcomes (measured in DALYs Averted and deaths avoided) for the populations using these cleaner technologies. A project that disseminates 25,000 ACE-1 or biogas stoves in Cambodia could result in 1,295 and 2,770 DALYs Averted respectively. In addition, the number of deaths avoided would amount to 40 and 75 respectively.
These and other research findings have the potential to unlock new results-based financing for clean cooking solutions, and the Alliance is helping project developers and investors identify organizations willing to pay for results related to the reduction of health impacts. The first step is to utilize the outcomes of studies like this to inform the Gold Standard Foundation in the development of a methodology to calculate health benefits using DALYs Averted as the impact metric. Organizations and investors engaged in the health aspects of clean cooking solutions are encouraged to join the Alliance, SNV, and others in this effort.
Download the research report to further explore the findings: Quantifying the health impacts of ACE-1 biomass and biogas stoves in Cambodia
Read SNV’s full blog post on the release: Quantified positive health impact of clean cooking solutions paves the way for results-based financing