Beyond Climate Mitigation: The Promising Social Impact of MEC’s Electric Cooking Program on Women in Rural India

Stories from the field

Induction cooking is a complex issue in India, given that polluting fossil fuels like coal remain the primary source of electricity generation in the country. However, as India moves to cleaner and more renewable sources of electricity in the future, following the worldwide push in power systems planning to move to cleaner sources of fuel, the future of clean cooking in India is surely electric. At MEC, we are leading the movement by ensuring that when the day comes, the underserved and low-income communities of women are not left behind in the energy transition once again, as the last in the socio-economic ladder to receive access to clean cooking technologies.

Our clean cooking program, MicroEnergy Credits – Microfinance for Clean Cooking Product Lines – India (GS12066), is the pioneer carbon program promoting e-cooking in India, through which induction cookstoves are being made available to women microentrepreneurs in low-income communities to cook in cleaner, safer environments on their journey up the clean energy ladder. The program also has the accomplishment of being issued the first-of-their-kind carbon credits earlier this year under the new Gold Standard Methodology for Metered & Measured Energy Cooking Devices. It has a verified impact on SDGs 1, 3, 5, 7, 8 &13.

The program has a clear environmental impact with verified reduced emissions. By replacing cooking fuels like wood and charcoal, induction cookstoves reduce associated GHG emissions and provide a cleaner cooking environment with no indoor air pollution. By eliminating the need for firewood, the stoves also directly reduce the need to chop down trees for fuel, preventing deforestation in the local area and positively impacting the environment. To date, the program has already reduced 85,310 tonnes of carbon emissions from being released into the atmosphere and is on track to reduce several thousand tonnes more year-on-year.

Not only that, the program supports better health outcomes for families, especially for women and children. According to The Economist, 4 million people still die prematurely every year because of the indoor air pollution generated by cooking with polluting fuels like coal and kerosene, making it the world’s third-biggest cause of early mortality for women and children, after heart disease and strokes.[i] By significantly reducing the air pollution and carbon emissions associated with cooking, our induction cookstoves program provides a cleaner and more sustainable alternative to traditional methods. The use of these stoves also completely eliminates the instances of fire-related accidents during cooking.

MEC clients sit in front of a wall covered in soot from a traditional ‘chulha’

However, it is the social impact of our carbon intervention that sets the MEC program apart. Our recent conversations with some clients in Bhathat village, Maharajganj district, near Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, India, demonstrated some remarkable co-benefits of the program to the women microentrepreneurs:

Kanchan Pal is delighted with the money she saves every month by cooking on an induction cookstove

Gita Gupta spends more time on her microenterprises now

Pavitra Nisar’s husband helps her with domestic cooking, allowing her more free time to use as she pleases

Community building and personal development: The women reported an exciting development: using video tutorials on YouTube to learn new dishes to cook on the induction stoves. The women share innovative dishes and recipes they try with each other, enriching their social interactions. They reported a marked sense of personal accomplishment in keeping pace with modern technology like electric cooking and using the internet to learn new recipes.

MEC's clean cooking program is not just a solution to the environmental and health crises associated with traditional cooking methods; it is a transformative initiative that empowers women, enhances their economic prospects, promotes significant improvements in health, and fosters gender and social equity in underserved communities. The success stories of women like Kanchan, Gita, and Pavitra highlight the transformative potential of clean cooking solutions, showing how technological innovations can catalyze broader social change. As we continue to build programs to navigate the transition to clean energy in our efforts towards climate mitigation, we are committed to ensuring that marginalized groups remain at the forefront of this change.

[i] [i] https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2024/07/12/why-cooking-causes-4m-premature-deaths-a-year

Lighting Up Lives in Dark Through LED Inverter Bulbs: MEC’s Efficient Lighting Program

By Nitisha Agrawal, Director, Social Impact, MicroEnergy Credits

30th August 2024

While my curiosity and inquisitiveness know no bounds when it comes to women’s kitchens and what kind of cookstoves they use to make their meals for the family, their lighting environment is also a shadow paradox to this curiosity. They go hand in hand, and I don’t mean just from the point of view of energy drudgery and energy ladder but also how it affects the woman and all other members of her family.

Imagine a scenario where a woman is using a highly polluting and rudimentary method of cooking, and her source of light is an incandescent light bulb (ICL) with depleting luminosity or a kerosene lamp emitting dangerous fumes. Of course, ICLs are subject to the availability of electricity for them to be used.

Both these practices exacerbate the situation to a level of extreme drudgery and discomfort, which includes a high level of heat from both cookstoves and ICL bulbs, risk of injuries and burns, fumes of many kinds emitted from both sources and unreliability of light source in situations of power cuts. This scenario would place such households at the bottom of all kinds of socio-economic and health-related pyramids. 

On my recent field visit to Howrah in West Bengal, I observed and understood how clean lighting solutions can significantly reduce household energy drudgery and the situation of family members while also reducing the energy cost burden. In some cases, a good lighting environment also helps improve income generation opportunities, as demonstrated by some of the women we met. 

We visited villages in two districts of West Bengal, Nadia District and 24 North Paraganas. These districts are distinct from each other in many ways, yet they share a common thread in the lives of people who live in terms of energy drudgery. 

My visit was to observe the monitoring process conducted by MicroEnergy Credits for its unique and critical LED Inverter bulb carbon project. As part of this monitoring, we met women and their families in twelve households who shared how the use of these LED inverter bulbs helped them reduce their daily burden at several levels. 

The first village we visited was Mahato Pada in Kalyani Block of Nadia District. It's important to establish the geographical context here as Kalyani City, also an administrative block, is an extremely well-planned urban city situated on the banks of the River Hooghly and is a budding tourist destination for people from all over the world. 

In contrast, Mahato Pada village can be considered a rural settlement where most of the residents are of migrant origin from the neighboring states of Bihar and Odisha who have come here in search of a better life. There seemed to be a mix of labor and agricultural-led income opportunities for the people in this village. The land here, being on the banks of mighty Hooghly, is fertile, and we could see the ripening lush green fields of corn that seemed to be a primary crop in addition to rice. Most of the households in this village continued to use traditional two-pot mud cookstoves for most of their cooking, indicating their energy drudgery. These cooking areas were outside the house, indicating the importance of proper lighting during the evening hours, as women would need to step outside of the main living area to cook their meals. Most houses had small backyard farms from where the firewood was being collected. 

The use of LED bulbs was seen mostly in the living area or a verandah that helped cover a larger area to increase visibility. It was interesting to hear how these bulbs are beneficial at several levels. While LED technology is far more environmentally friendly as compared to incandescent bulbs with a mercury-based filament, these bulbs also do not emit the kind of heat that ICL is known to. This is an important aspect to understand from the user’s point of view in this geography (and would be the case in large parts of India). Being on the banks of River Hooghly, these areas face extreme humidity and intense summer and monsoons. The heat emitted by an incandescent bulb (ICL) or a kerosene lamp would make the environment difficult for a lady cooking in the house, a child studying, or even an elderly person who may not be keeping very well. All women respondents we met were unanimous in sharing that these bulbs are cooling and that they do not feel the heat while being around them. 

In Mahato Pada, we met a woman entrepreneur who runs a small utility shop. She chose to install an LED bulb in her establishment. Just this one bulb has helped her increase her business hours and, therefore, her income-generating opportunity. She is now able to keep her establishment open for a longer period of time, and she feels ‘safe in the light’.

Let’s talk about ‘safety and light’. In rural areas with surrounding farmlands, which often become pitch dark with dusk in the absence of streetlights, it becomes virtually impossible to step outside the house for women, young children, and the elderly. The risks include getting bitten by a snake or other poisonous or non-poisonous insects, risk of physical injury, animal and human conflict, and even risk of robbery and other local uncalled-for activity. In the context of Mahato Pada, which is a rural village, a small intervention like a luminous LED inverter bulb in the verandah can help overcome a lot of these impending risks, at least within the surrounding area of the household. 

The scenario in the second area we visited is different from the perspective of both households and the community. Shyam Nagar in 24 North Paraganas is more like a semi-urban slum, again a rehabilitation settlement for a migrant population from many neighboring geographies. So while the structures are ‘pucca’ with small allocated rooms and access to electricity, most of these homes face the issue of power cuts. 

But before we speak of power cuts, it’s important to establish the need for clean and proper lighting in such homes. Most of these houses are one-room sets where every activity takes place inside that space provided, including cooking, studying for children and young adults, and even entertainment if the family can afford it. If not for these bright LED bulbs, the rooms are poorly lit if the household is using ICL, impacting all major chores of the house. 

When the families were interviewed, almost all shared that LED bulbs provide much-needed brightness, help reduce the electricity bill, do not heat like the ICL, and, of course, continue to work for at least four hours in case of power cuts. 

An Indian household, whether rural or urban, village or a city, is no stranger to power cuts. We refer to the IRES 2020 Insights from the India Residential Energy Survey. As per the report and as per very visible efforts, India has made commendable efforts in household electrification. However, the report indicates that households in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Haryana, Assam, and Bihar still face the longest power outages, with rural households facing six or more hours of daily outages, long blackouts, low voltages, and appliance damages. 

For households that have no electricity access or are subjected to frequent power cuts, chores are often limited to daylight hours, putting more burden on women and thereby impacting the opportunity to utilize evening hours for more leisure-based activities. As with continuous and strenuous work that needs to be finished before the light goes out, women are often too exhausted to indulge in any regenerative activities like skill or hobby building or even education. 

While we did not meet any children who might be in the age group to attend school and college and hence the need to study at home, it is safe to assume that there would be many such children and young adults who need proper and continuous lighting in order to study without much discomfort. 

Another advantage of inverter LED bulbs is their lifespan compared to any other type of bulb. Since the geographies in question are subjected to frequent power cuts, regular ICL bulbs tend to fuse out in scenarios of fluctuation and low voltage, hence needing to be replaced frequently. This also causes wastage, and some of that waste is dangerous, including glass and mercury filament. 

Just through my interaction with these twelve households, I observed multiple advantages and direct benefits of using technology like LED inverter bulbs. Households that are using them shared absolute positive feedback with an intent pointing towards a continuous and long-term use of it.

The price barrier, which affects direct purchase decisions along with access to such technologies, is mitigated through programs like MicroEnergy Credits’ Efficient Lighting program.

These programs are implemented through MEC’s partnership with women’s financial inclusion institutions, which can provide last-mile access and help households opt for these technologies through various financial inclusion programs. 

How Induction-Based Cooking Can Help Reduce the Drudgery of the Summer Heatwave for Women and their Families

Making cooking environments safer for rural women in India

By Nitisha Agrawal, Director, Social Impact, MicroEnergy Credits

20th August 2024

As per a recent report - ‘The scorching divide: How extreme heat inflames gender inequalities in health and income’ published by The Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation[i] In India, the number of women dying annually due to heat is projected to double, reaching 73,500 by 2050. While the report does not point specifically to the drudgery faced by women due to rudimentary cooking practices using fire food and biomass, much has been said about the uncomfortable, almost unbearable cooking conditions these practices create.

The report points out that presently, 27,000 women in India die each year due to heat-related excess mortality. While the women are exposed to extreme heat for all outdoor activities including paid and unpaid labour, cooking through traditional stoves further exacerbates their exposure to heat.

Several factors add to what could be termed as heat-related issues from the lens of the cooking scenario - direct exposure to flames, intense smoke, and soot that stays in the cooking area long after the food is cooked, increased instances of skin burns, longer hours to collect firewood as one’s efficiency is at an all-time low, and longer hours to fetch water due to drying water sources are among the obvious factors.

That extreme heat affects physical and mental health is a known fact, and the report highlights that “February 2023 was India's hottest February since 1901, and July 2023 broke records as the hottest July on Earth. Women are vulnerable to extreme heat due to physiological differences, limited access to healthcare, and increased risk of gender-based violence.”

However, the good news is that several new technologies and innovations could well have the solution to help reduce the heat factor in these women's cooking areas. Induction-based cooking is surely one of the most efficient and promising ways forward.

Based on my recent experience with MicroEnergy Credits, I had a chance to meet almost 25 women who have been using induction-based cookstoves for most of their cooking requirements. We met these women in their homes between March and April. Based on temperature records, some of those days had been recorded as the hottest days (29th April, Nalanda district of Bihar recorded well over 40 degrees daytime temperature in some parts).

The one differentiating factor that stood out immediately was that their cooking space did not feel as hot as compared to homes using traditional cooking methods. The absence of smoke and flame-related heat made their cooking environment bearable and comfortable. Most of these women shared that they find cooking on induction stoves convenient and easy. As opposed to traditional cooking methods using biomass, not being exposed to smoke and flame-related heat can prevent them from direct health issues like extreme exhaustion, giddiness, headache, respiratory illness, and heat-related fever.

MEC through its field partner network has been instrumental in bringing these induction cookstoves to over 1,30,000 households in the first year of its program which is a stupendous achievement given the largeness of this problem statement.

As the grid infrastructure and power connectivity continue to improve across the villages in India, induction-based cooking can play a pivotal role in preventing several issues related to rudimentary cooking practices including the health and well-being of women.

MEC is committed to strengthening the user experience through its partners and helping reduce barriers to adopting these new and improved technologies like induction-based cooking.


[i] https://onebillionresilient.org/extreme-heat-inflames-gender-inequalities/

A Better Cooking Environment for Rural Indian Kitchens

Small but significant steps taken by MicroEnergy Credits’ induction cookstove carbon program

By Nitisha Agrawal, Director, Social Impact, MicroEnergy Credits

7th August 2024

That I’ll get to see an induction cook stove in a small home in Samastipur, Bihar along with the same old facets of an Indian village life, has been a fascinating first experience. These homes are still lined up with walls of dried cow dung and rudimentary structures but one of their cooking options is an induction-based stove, something that even I don’t have in my kitchen currently.  In my 8th year as a practitioner of access to clean energy opportunities for the most marginal sections of our society, observing the use of induction cookstoves feels like a quantum leap.

I got this opportunity with MicroEnergy Credits (MEC) as they are currently rolling out a unique and first-of-its-kind induction cook stove clean cooking carbon program. Traveling to the state of Bihar, we made our way to Hasanpur in Samastipur District. Hasanpur is known for its sugar mills and one would assume that a large part of the population in this block would find employment in these mills. But there is more to it when we go deeper into the villages and meet the women.

MEC’s differentiated model of last-mile connectivity resides in its partnership with women’s financial inclusion organizations across the footprints of India. This makes the model not only scalable but also consistently dynamic. By its definition of purpose, ‘microfinance serves as a cornerstone for financial inclusion and grassroots development in India’. By providing the marginalized sections of society with access to credit and financial services, it has contributed to poverty alleviation, women empowerment, and rural development.

Now consider this powerful tool to provide opportunities for clean energy technologies. While most models grapple with achieving scale, MEC effectively uses this platform to reach lakhs of households with distributed technologies like induction cookstoves, improved cookstoves, solar lights, water purifiers, and others.

Our hosts for this visit were one of MEC’s field partners working for women’s financial inclusion, which has a robust footprint in this region and other parts of India. I could start to feel the power of this narrative by listening and interacting with women who are part of this universe. I attended a ‘women’s center collection’ meeting with our partner’s field team and realized that these women not only have taken their first steps towards empowerment but are better informed of their opportunities in life. Making decisions about accessing finance, what type of finance, using digital payment methods, handling their own money, choosing from an array of products and services offered through financial schemes, getting together regularly and talking about their home situations with a lot more confidence, felt like a move in the right direction.

In this meeting, we asked the women about their experience using an induction cookstove.  While some of them are still learning how to use the stove to its full potential, their initial experience seemed positive and exciting to some extent. Expression of excitement emerges from the ease of use of these stoves, and perhaps how quickly one can make a dish or boil water or even milk.

‘Click of a button’, and the cookstove is in use. Juxtaposing this ease against the smokiness of firewood-based cooking where it takes several minutes to get the fire going, use of a firestarter like plastic or kerosene and then subsequent and continuous fumes while the woman is cooking and even beyond that (as the smoke stays in the environment for a long time).

This makes me think of the mobile phone- the telecommunication revolution in rural India with the images of old grandparents being connected to their grandchildren first through voice and then through videos and now the digital payments revolution. The context may be different, but the emotion feels similar.

One may argue that induction-based cooking is drastically different from traditional cooking methods and so its impact on cooking output, but meeting these women made me believe that if given the right inputs and by continuously having conversations with them, they will choose what's right for them. And from what they shared; the taste is just what it needs to be.

What is also very interesting in this MEC program is that it considers both traditional cookstoves using firewood and LPG as baseline fuels. This shows the well-researched and also conservative approach of the organization making sure that there are no false assumptions and estimations as far as user behavior is concerned.

Now in these homes in Bihar and other states, there is an interplay of three types of cooking tools: traditional cookstoves, LPG, and induction. The scope of this article is not about usage percentages and the actual MRV process followed by program developers but MEC’s approach takes this into account by making sure that only the most conservative data is used. And looking at the cooking scenario in homes using induction, there is definitely less smoke, much less drudgery associated with fuel food collection, and critical saving of the woman’s time. This is an impactful transition towards cleaner kitchens and if we continue to motivate women to increase their adoption of using more of cleaner cooking options, they will make the right choice.

Like any other new technology, there is initial hesitation attached to the use of induction cook stoves, like a TV, a mixer grinder, a microwave oven, and even induction in urban homes. These aspects of slight hesitation can easily be removed by demonstrations, sharing of experiences, and sometimes just by talking. This is another differentiator within the MEC model where the field partners are present in the lives of their clients for several years through some kind of financial service. Naturally, the relationship will move beyond that of a cookstove, but it will always allow the client to come back in case of doubts or problems.

If we can support the user community with continuous capacity building and training through the field partners, then this will perhaps lead to deeper adoption of these technologies.

After the collection meeting, we visited the homes of some of the users of induction cookstoves where again the dominant thread was ease of use and very visible saving of time. Yes, there are infrastructural gaps related to power connectivity and the presence of extension boards, but these will improve over time with concentrated efforts by the government and other developmental agencies.

An impromptu cooking demonstration done during our field visit helped erase certain doubts in the minds of women who were hesitant to use the induction cookstoves.

Observing the expressions of some of these women and even men, I felt that there is an underlying emotion of aspiration through the use of these induction-based cookstoves. As if the household has moved up the ladder. Yes, to be able to use induction-based cooking for some of the cooking needs is a huge movement up the energy ladder and this is indeed the underlying objective of MEC’s program. Another interesting dynamic in favor of this technology is the positive response from the younger generation. We saw that in homes where there are youth and children, there is better adoption. Not only are the youth using it themselves to make a quick snack like Maggi noodles but these cookstoves are turning out to be very useful in making early morning tiffins for school-going children. As per MEC’s current monitoring, women have reported saving 1.10 hours per household per week, which is about 10 to 12 minutes each day.

Given an option, any woman would like to save 10 minutes of her time daily and escape from the drudgery of a smoke-filled cooking environment.

MEC through its field partner network has been instrumental in bringing these induction cookstoves to over 1,30,000 households in the first year of its program which is a stupendous achievement given the magnitude of this problem statement.

Even though these women are choosing the induction for some of their cooking requirements regularly, they are still choosing the most advanced and clean technology available in this space and everyone involved in this transition should be extremely proud of this achievement.

MEC’s unique program methodology uses metered technology to track the use of these induction cookstoves to measure the energy used for cooking. This also means that the data is collected digitally, resides on a cloud-based system, and ensures that there is no manipulation of the numbers. The meter will only take the readings if the induction is in use and then record the energy spent during cooking through induction. This process of data collection once again is a step in the right direction as this metered technology can be scaled up to each cooking device over time, much like recording the TRP or viewership ratings through a chip for our TV viewing preferences.

While this visit to Hasanpur in Samastipur district opened up an opportunity to witness a transition unfolding in the homes here, I am extremely optimistic and curious to understand how induction-based cooking is impacting the lives of women and families in other parts of India. Globally, there is much emphasis on induction-based cooking, and rightly so, but programs like MEC’s are also allowing the users to choose what may seem the current best option for them by financial empowerment of making the purchase decision and not free distribution.

With over 1.3 lakh users of induction cookstoves currently under this program, the numbers are likely to go up substantially over time as one can see the demand for it. And when there is a pull for any technology, we have seen how quickly the penetration happens.

On MEC’s part, it is committed to strengthening the user experience through its partners and helping reduce barriers to adopting these new and improved technologies leading to the overall well-being and empowerment of women in rural India.


Lighting the Way: Women's Empowerment through Climate Finance in Action

A current MicroEnergy Credits client and a future one show the power of women’s empowerment climate finance.

By Garima Dawer, Director, Communications, MicroEnergy Credits

1st August 2024

I recently visited a new area where we at MEC hope to expand our clean energy program, and there I met with an inspirational woman, Tania Bibi.

Tania Bibi is a hardworking young mother to a school-going daughter in Barrackpore, near Kolkata in West Bengal, India. Like all mothers, Tania has hopes and dreams for her child, but her days are spent in drudgery, cooking on a traditional chulha surrounded by smoke, and her evenings and nights in an almost dark home. Her daughter studies by the meagre light of a kerosene wick lamp after dark because their home has no other source of lighting, managing the bare minimum she needs to, because the smell and smoke from the lamp mean she cannot sit next to it for too long without damaging her eyes and lungs.

I am so excited that MEC’s program will introduce solar lighting, improved cookstoves, and water purification in her region. It is an honor to help these inspiring women offer more to their families and children. Indeed, through our program, Tania Bibi will spend less to achieve clean and modern energy than she currently spends on traditional fuel. When Tania accesses clean energy solutions like an improved cookstove for cooking, and solar lights to light up her home so her child can study after dark, she and her family will achieve freedom from continued health risks due to exposure to harmful smoke, as well as from the high probability of Tania’s daughter dropping out of school and limiting her access to future opportunities for development. When a child drops out of school, there is a strong likelihood that another generation will remain in poverty.

As I return to my desk to get up to speed on generative AI, I am boggled by the contrast in how our society allocates wealth. There are still millions and millions of women, their children, and their families in Asia and Africa still living in the dark - cooking, heating, and lighting their homes with polluting fossil fuels, unable to access simple clean energy to improve their daily lives. This lack of access has a far-reaching impact on several human development factors such as a long and healthy life, access to education and a decent standard of living. India, where MEC is determined to create a high social impact through its projects, ranks a dismal 134 out of 191 in the Global Human Development Index, and Kenya, another MEC project geography, ranks 152nd.

Our company has had the privilege to work with some incredible corporations that have funded climate action. But this is a small portion of what is needed.

The integrity conversation has led to terrific tools to increase climate impact, like the ICVCM and the VCMI. But while the debate has raged, it has also delayed carbon funding, with billions of dollars earmarked for climate action lying untapped in corporations, resulting in organizations like MEC needing to scale back their plans. I have personally witnessed the urgency to resume this scale-up and reach women like Tania Bibi.

We need more corporations to commit to carbon funding so we can support more women like Tania Bibi, who are ready to create healthier homes and a cleaner climate.

Now meet Uttama Barik, another inspirational woman I met on my travels. She is an end-user of our clean cooking carbon program in Nayapalli, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India, and a micro-entrepreneur who uses the induction cookstove bought as part of the program to make snacks she sells to tea stalls and student hostels. The induction cookstove has allowed Uttama to spend more hours cooking in a safe, smoke-free environment and supplement her family income that is now being used to fund her daughter’s diploma program in computer science. This one step of clean energy adoption has had a far-reaching effect – Uttama’s family’s health has improved, and the additional income has provided her daughter with a chance to enter the technical workforce, potentially lifting her family up the economic ladder.

Uttama’s is one of the many success stories of women positively impacted through our clean cooking program GS12066- Microfinance for Clean Cooking Product Lines - India. Success stories like hers are made possible only through climate finance, a critical tool that holds the potential to catalyze transformative change on a global scale.

Each dollar spent buying carbon credits from a high-integrity, high-quality project developer like MicroEnergy Credits goes ten times further, not only supporting critical climate action and creating livelihoods for clean energy product distributors and demonstrators but generating a host of co-benefits like improved health and access to education with the potential to change the lives of entire families, communities, and countries.

And each client positively impacted when corporations fund development through climate finance is more than a number. It’s an individual, a child, a family, and a community that benefits from meaningful change. By investing in climate finance, corporations not only mitigate the risks associated with climate change but also pave the way for a more equitable and sustainable future for generations to come.

Even as nations grapple with the consequences of rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and environmental degradation, all is not lost, and we are not powerless. There is near-term action that climate-aware corporations can take. Climate heroes like Tania Bibi and her young daughter are ready to improve the climate as well as their lives, as Uttama Barik and her daughter have been able to do.

MEC Africa Program: All You Need to Know

MicroEnergy Credits – Microfinance for Solar Lamps & Efficient Cookstoves

Grouped Project under Verra

In line with our commitment to transparency and integrity, we are providing a comprehensive list of all the information about our Africa clean energy program here.

This initiative aims to ensure that stakeholders have access to program details and documentation in an easy-to-use way.

In the rural areas in Kenya, the predominant means of cooking are traditional cookstoves that use charcoal or wood as fuel. The smoke and fumes from these inefficient stoves contribute heavily to indoor air pollution, and affect human health. In rural areas of Kenya there is either no grid connection or frequent power outages and low voltage so rural households must use kerosene for indoor lighting, which also contributes to indoor air pollution.

Under the project activity, MEC works with project partners to develop a successful and diversified clean energy-lending program. The clean energy program addresses typical barriers for low-income clients including education, price, finance, and supply and aftersales service. MEC trains project partners to implement the clean energy lending program, as well as a robust and transparent carbon credit monitoring and tracking system to quantify and record the volume of carbon emission reductions created through the clean energy program.

Audited Documents

Additionality:

Over-crediting

Co-benefits of the program

MEC India Efficient Lighting Program: All You Need to Know

MicroEnergy Credits - Microfinance for Efficient Lighting Product Lines

Grouped Project under Verra

In line with our commitment to transparency and integrity, we are providing a comprehensive list of all the information about our efficient lighting carbon program here.

This initiative aims to ensure that stakeholders have access to program details and documentation in an easy-to-use way.

The purpose of this grouped project “Microfinance for Inverter LED lamps in India” is to reduce fossil-fuel-based electricity consumption in rural households across India by introducing more energy-efficient inverter LED lamps to replace incandescent lightbulbs (“ICLs”). An inverter LED contains a light bulb coupled with a battery system (typically Li-Ion type) such that the LED bulb will operate on the mains power supply during availability and will switch to battery power when the main supply is not available (for e.g., in a blackout situation). This makes the inverter LED more versatile and useful than a normal LED bulb.

The inverter LEDs distributed under the grouped project replace ICL lamps in households, which results in GHG emissions due to the usage of ICL. Thus, the grouped project leads to the mitigation of GHG emissions and a range of other sustainable development benefits in the project region.

The distribution of LED is not mandated by Indian law and the grouped project is a voluntary initiative.

Audited Documents

Additionality:

Over-crediting

Co-benefits of the program: Fostering community empowerment

MEC India Clean Energy Program (GS11450): All You Need to Know

MICROENERGY CREDITS – MICROFINANCE FOR CLEAN ENERGY PRODUCT LINES – INDIA

PoA ID GS 11450

In line with our commitment to transparency and integrity, we are providing a comprehensive list of all the information about our India clean energy carbon program here.

This initiative aims to ensure that stakeholders have access to program details and documentation in an easy-to-use way.

The program promotes three broad categories of Clean Energy Products (“CEP”):

Comprehensive information about the program:

I. Audited Documents:

II. Additionality:

III. Over-crediting:

IV. Co-benefits of the program: Fostering community empowerment

MicroEnergy Credits Achieves Milestone with First-of-Their-Kind Induction Cookstove Carbon Credits Issuance under Gold Standard

Mumbai, 13 February 2024– MicroEnergy Credits, a trusted provider of social impact carbon credits, proudly announces the issuance of first-of-their-kind carbon credits for its innovative induction cookstove clean cooking carbon program under the new Gold Standard Methodology for Metered & Measured Energy Cooking Devices. This achievement marks a significant step forward in the fight against pollution and health impacts caused by traditional cooking fuels, particularly in rural India.

Cooking fuels, including wood, coal, and biomass, have long been a major source of indoor air pollution in India. This form of cooking has a disastrous impact on not only the environment but also a devastating toll on public health. Those who cook over wood or kerosene, mostly women, inhale dangerous amounts of toxic smoke. According to the World Health Organization, pollution from this type of cooking kills 4 million people every year. In India, smoke from solid fuel used for cooking and other household activities is the largest source of ambient air pollution. Recent studies[i], including the one by Rao et al[ii]., have found that 20–50% of the pollutants in ambient air in India originate from residential solid fuel combustion.

April Allderdice, CEO, MicroEnergy Credits said:

“Our induction cookstove program not only contributes significantly to reducing carbon emissions but also plays a crucial role in uplifting communities on the energy ladder, providing them with cleaner and more efficient cooking solutions. By harnessing the power of innovative solutions, we are empowering households to transition towards cleaner energy sources, contributing to a healthier environment, and improving the quality of life for rural and low-income women and their families.

“This initiative aligns seamlessly with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically targeting SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being, and SDG 13 – Climate Action. By addressing the cooking sector's environmental impact, we are promoting better health outcomes for communities as well as creating a positive ripple effect in mitigating climate change.”

Margaret Kim, CEO, Gold Standard said:

“Clean cooking projects play an essential role in contributing to sustainable development and reducing emissions. The first issuance of credits from our Methodology Metered and Measured Cooking Device methodology, which enables accurate real-time measurement of energy consumption, marks an important milestone for clean cooking in the carbon market. I congratulate MicroEnergy Credits for their innovative and impactful project, and look forward to seeing the wider adoption of this methodology.”

MicroEnergy Credits' induction cookstove clean cooking program offers a transformative solution by significantly reducing the air pollution and carbon emissions associated with cooking. Induction cookstoves provide a cleaner and more sustainable alternative to traditional methods. The technology not only improves air quality and health outcomes for communities, but it also aligns with global efforts to combat climate change.

The Gold Standard certification attests to the verifiable emission reductions achieved by the MicroEnergy Credits program. The rigorous monitoring and verification process ensures that each credit issued represents a genuine and impactful reduction in carbon emissions, further emphasizing the company's commitment to generating the highest quality of carbon credits with verifiable impact.

Following a certification the project has achieved the following verified impact:

“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,” said Donee Alexander, Chief Science and Learning Officer, Clean Cooking Alliance. “When based on realistic assumptions that reflect integrity, transparency, and accountability, like those of Gold Standard’s metered methodology, clean cooking projects can deliver huge climate wins for people and the planet.”

MicroEnergy Credits remains dedicated to pioneering programs with clean energy solutions to empower rural and low-income communities on their journey out of poverty. The induction cookstove carbon credits issuance is a testament to the company's ongoing efforts to make a positive impact on both the well-being of communities and the planet.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Garima Dawer

Director, Communications, MicroEnergy Credits

[email protected]

About MicroEnergy Credits 

MicroEnergy Credits is a social enterprise that helps MFIs launch and scale clean energy lending programs by connecting them to carbon markets. As a trusted provider of social impact carbon credits, MEC seeks to empower every community by providing access to affordable and innovative clean energy solutions. MEC aims to create a world free of both poverty and climate change. Our programs enable rural and low-income communities to take control of their clean energy future while providing corporations committed to positive climate action with carbon credits with verifiable impact. 

Over the past 16 years, we have impacted the lives of over 40 million people in the developing countries of Asia and Africa. Our MFI partners play a crucial role in the adoption of clean energy. As a supportive partner, MEC leverages its prowess in the carbon market to provide resources, training, and expertise to help our MFI partners make a difference on the ground. 


[i] [i] Chafe, Z., & Chowdhury, S. (2021). A deadly double dose for India’s poor. Nature Sustainability, 4(10), 835-836. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00752-0

[ii] Rao, N. D., Kiesewetter, G., Min, J., Pachauri, S., & Wagner, F. (2021). Household contributions to and impacts from air pollution in India. Nature Sustainability, 4(10), 859-867. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00744-0

How Does MEC Incorporate the Research from UC Berkeley (Gill-Wiehl et al) in its Work? 

As a project developer, MEC read Gill-Wiehl’s original research with interest. We are always trying to keep on the cutting edge using the best possible methodologies. Technology is continuously changing and we are evolving with it. As our CEO April Allderdice writes here, the methodologies will continue to change and improve over time. Moreover, it is our company's value that constructive criticism is a valuable catalyst for progress.  The great news is that MEC has already been applying most of the suggestions for monitoring integrity. Here are some of the suggestions from the paper that MEC is already implementing: