Statement from the Clean Cooking Alliance on Carbon Finance and C-Quest Capital
The world will not reach net-zero without addressing clean cooking access. And the cooking crisis — like climate change — will not be solved without carbon finance.
For carbon markets to thrive, they must be based on trust, integrity, fairness, and transparency. There is no place for fraud, corruption, or other wrongdoing. The Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA) commends the efforts of the new leadership at C-Quest Capital to address the alleged wrongdoing of its previous CEO and to minimize the impacts to its customers and the voluntary carbon market.
Clean cooking projects must be grounded in the latest science and backed by strong measurement and monitoring approaches. There are clear signs of progress in the clean cooking carbon market. CCA and numerous partners are working to put in place the policies and tools necessary to ensure the long-term success of the voluntary carbon market for clean cooking, including efforts such as:
• Developing a new carbon methodology: The CCA-led Clean Cooking and Climate Consortium (4C) has just released a comprehensive methodology for crediting emissions reductions from cooking projects. Developed over an 18-month, collaborative process, the new methodology is intended to become the standard for cookstove projects under Articles 6.2 and 6.4 of the Paris Agreement, and for the voluntary carbon market. The public is invited to submit comments before the deadline of August 2, 2024.
• Adopting guiding principles: CCA worked with hundreds of partners to develop the Principles for Responsible Carbon Finance in Clean Cooking, with the goal of improving market norms, instilling confidence in clean cooking carbon markets, and incentivizing investment. Launched at the Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa in May 2024 and endorsed by more than 160 organizations, these Principles underpin the ongoing development of a Code of Conduct for project developers.
• Updating fNRB values: The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has commissioned a team of scientists to update fNRB (fraction of non-renewable biomass) values, a key input parameter for any cookstove project, which will be reflected in the new methodology developed by 4C. The organization’s Methodologies Panel is seeking input on the updated revised report on the default values for fNRB.
Together, these and other advancements contribute to improved trust, integrity, fairness, and transparency — essential elements to drive the carbon market forward and to ensure carbon finance for clean cooking is done right.
