Radha’s Message for July 2015
Dear friends,
It does often slow down a bit in the summer months, but this July is proving to be an exception.
Two noteworthy global events this month – the Financing for Development Conference in Addis and the release of the final report on the Millennium Development Goals – helped the international community identify what is working in development and what we need to be doing better. As the world transitions to the Sustainable Development goals, leaders are looking at interventions that can support the achievement of these goals in a holistic manner. Clean cooking and our market-based model were topics of discussion at several events in Addis, which is a clear sign of the success of our shared efforts as we approach the halfway mark of the Alliance’s mission.
In London last week, I joined the UK Department of International Development (DFID) for a discussion of an exciting new “Energy Africa” initiative. I met with DFID’s new Minister of State Grant Shapps to personally welcome him to the Alliance’s Leadership Council, and we talked in depth about our work, the sector’s growth over the last few years, and specific interventions that could further transform the cookstoves and fuels market. While there, I also had the chance to engage with the research group that will help feature the issue of clean cooking and its impacts on development and environment during the G20 leaders in Antalya, Turkey this November. The G20 is an important audience and the meeting will provide us a platform to create awareness and action. I also met with other initiatives working on development challenges, primarily in the health arena, to share the latest information on the positive impacts access to clean cookstoves and fuels can have on health outcomes.
As part of the Alliance’s work to build an evidence base on the health and climate benefits of clean cooking, we convened a team of leading global experts from the health and environment/climate communities. Participants shared the latest evidence on the relationship between cookstove emissions, health and climate impacts and sought to determine which pollutant measurements should be prioritized to address both climate and health. In other research news, the Alliance released a request for proposals to support research studies that will evaluate the links between exposure to household air pollution and chronic respiratory and cardiovascular disease.
We know that ensuring positive outcomes will hinge not just on production and distribution of high quality and performing stoves, but on actual adoption of them. The Alliance was pleased this month to partner with USAID to jointly fund three research projects that will study the adoption of clean cooking technology to reduce household air pollution. These studies will help us better understand the barriers and motivators for consumers using clean cooking technology.
Finally, the Clean Cooking Forum 2015 is only a few months away and we have an amazing agenda coming together. It looks to be a very “hands on” and “practical” few days that should leave everyone with some tangible and actionable ideas and I hope you all sign up when registration opens in a few days!
Regards,
Radha