Secretary Clinton to Chair Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves Leadership Council
Washington, DC (September 26, 2013) – The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves celebrated its third anniversary today with major new announcements, partnerships, and commitments in support of a global market for clean cooking solutions.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who launched the Alliance in 2010, announced that she will chair the Alliance’s Leadership Council, an influential group of world leaders that provides the Alliance with strategic advice and visibility.
“We need to keep the Alliance going and growing,” said Secretary Clinton. “Find more partners; expand the market; put more stoves in the hands of consumers; save more lives. That’s what the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves is all about, and that’s why I will continue to be an enthusiastic supporter and partner.”
The Alliance is working to end the 4 million annual deaths from household air pollution from cooking smoke, which 2.4 billion people are exposed to on a daily basis. Its public-private partnership model is essential to this effort, and a number of corporations announced their new or renewed commitments to move the Alliance’s market development work forward:
• Shell, a founding partner, will fund the Alliance with an additional $6 million. Their commitment is critical to support sector entrepreneurs in reaching scale, and raise awareness about inefficient and dangerous cooking practices;
• Deutsche Bank has partnered with the Alliance to create a $4 million Working Capital Fund to provide loans and loan guarantees to enterprises that are unable to access traditional forms of debt financing; and
• CEMEX has signed a collaboration agreement with the Alliance to deliver direct funds supporting engagement in Latin America and Bangladesh, a commitment that builds on the company’s previous work in the clean cooking sector.
“Access to clean cooking solutions has a ripple effect that will change the world – better health, cleaner air, a more sustainable environment, increased safety, enhanced livelihoods, and freed time for employment or schooling or relaxation,” said Radha Muthiah, Executive Director of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. “At three years, the Alliance and its partners have proved that the time is right, and that the time is now, for global adoption of clean cookstoves and fuels at scale.
“The confluence of Secretary Clinton’s new role, important contributions and commitments from our partners, and the sustained conviction that combines the sector – cooking shouldn’t kill – demonstrates that we are well poised to reach our goal of 100 million households adopting clean cooking solutions by 2020, with an eye toward a world with zero deaths from cooking by 2030,” Muthiah continued.
Over the last year the Alliance created a series of tools to benefit its partners and enhance their ability to drive the sector toward a thriving global market for clean cookstoves and fuels, several of which were launched today:
• The Results Reporting Survey for 2012, the first of what will be an annual series, shows that 9.6 million cookstoves were manufactured last year, and that 8.2 million cookstoves were disseminated – a doubling of 2011 results;
• Scaling Adoption of Clean Cooking Solutions through Women’s Empowerment: A Resource Guide demonstrates the important role of women throughout the clean cooking value chain;
• The Clean Cooking Catalog is an online one-stop-shop for global cookstove and fuel product and testing information; and
• The Carbon Finance Platform is a web tool to connect investors, business, and consumers to harness the potential of carbon markets to drive increased clean cooking adoption and use.
Also on the occasion of the Alliance’s third anniversary, Global Ambassador Julia Roberts launched Alliance and partner fundraising appeals via Chime for Change and Catapult.
The Alliance’s third annual report can be viewed here.
###
Media Contact:
Sean Bartlett | 1.202.683.0453 | sbartlett@cleancookstoves.org