The Gold Standard Foundation has verified that the Gyapa™ Project, a partnership between Relief International and ClimateCare, has cut a further 824,977 tonnes of carbon emissions as of its 2015 issuance, making it one of the largest carbon reductions for any cookstove project certified by Gold Standard.
Since 2007, more than 835,000 Gyapa™ stoves have been sold, cutting a staggering 1,860,777 tonnes of CO2. The project also has created 780+ skilled jobs. By providing clean cooking solutions to over 4.1 million Ghanaians, the project also improves health and has saved families more than $84 million in fuel costs.
The GyapaTM stove cuts charcoal usage by up to 50 per cent, and reduces harmful smoke inhalation for cooks and others in the household. With its signature ceramic liner and sturdy base, the Gyapa™ cooks faster and is safer than traditional stoves used in urban and peri-urban areas.
Gyapa™ stoves are sold in three different sizes to accommodate domestic and commercial cooking needs, providing significant socio-economic, environmental and health benefits to stove users and their communities. The most commonly used domestic model is priced at under $10, making it accessible to households most in need of cleaner and more efficient cooking options.
The success of the project comes as a result of innovative work by Relief International and ClimateCare to take a market-based approach to sustainable development. The production, sale and use of these low-cost, innovative stoves drive economic growth as well as positive social and environmental change.
The GyapaTM stove is produced and sold by local entrepreneurs in Ghana, with a value chain comprising eight certified ceramists, who employ more than 50 workers; 130 metal artisans who manufacture the stoves, and 600 retail agents who sell Gyapa™ across Ghana. This makes Gyapa EnterprisesTM one of Africa’s most successful social enterprise ventures.
Registered as a carbon finance program in late 2007, the project has partly financed itself through the sale of Gold Standard Carbon Credits to businesses and governments around the world. Organisations including the U.S. government’s USAID and EPA, the Shell Foundation and the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (GACC) have also supported the project.
The Gyapa™ program has played a critical role in Ghana, and continues to drive sustained growth in the manufacture and sale of fuel-efficient cookstoves. At the same time, the production, sale and use of Gyapa™ stoves reduces disease, tackles poverty and cuts global carbon emissions.
Organisations that wish to support the continued growth of this project can do so by purchasing Gold Standard Carbon Credits through ClimateCare on +44(0)1865 591000.
Why I love Gyapa™
Gifty Aberig Awimpowa (pictured left) is one of the largest Gyapa™ retailers in Accra. Located in one of Accra’s busiest urban markets, Timber Market, Gifty has been selling the Gyapa™ cookstove along with other household and kitchen items for years. Gifty sells more than 100 stoves per week, making Gyapa™ by far her best seller and most popular product. With her Gyapa™ success she has expanded her own retail network, opening shops in other markets in and outside Accra. Gyapa™ retails for $10 and saves its owner $100 in fuel costs each year. Gyapa™ gives customers a clean, quick and safe way to cook their favorite foods and keeps money in their pockets. No wonder it is Gifty’s best-selling product.
Statements
RI / Gyapa Enterprises: Atsu Titiati, Program Advisor: “Through the Gyapa™ stove we have demonstrated how to promote mass sales of improved cookstoves and the complex organisational requirements needed to achieve success. Our business model is unique – in addition to consumer and environmental benefits, the manufacture and sale of these stoves has created numerous employment opportunities. Our project provides an effective means of poverty alleviation and income generation. The reinvestment of the carbon finance funds enables the program to increase scale, expand reach and provide the needed support mechanisms for our network.”
Gold Standard: Owen Hewlett, Chief Technical Officer: “This is such an exciting project. It’s one of the largest cookstove projects certified under Gold Standard, reducing the same amount of emissions as taking nearly 400,000 cars off the road for one year. And it does this whilst also providing improved health, more jobs and a better economy for the local communities. A great example of how climate finance can drive climate security and sustainable development.”
ClimateCare: Tom Morton, Director: “The Gyapa™ cookstove program is a great example of the type of Climate+Care project that we specialise in. It not only protects the environment and improves lives, it does so at scale, and in a way that leaves a lasting legacy. We are proud to be part of the team that makes it happen and encourage any organisation wanting to support global carbon reductions to do so through this award winning project.”
Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves: Peter George, Director, Enterprise Development and Investment: “We are pleased to see that this partnership between ClimateCare and Relief International has achieved such significant scale, and further, that the program is well-aligned with the market based approach to sustainable development we support. It is this sort of initiative that will continue to support the creation of a thriving global market for clean household cooking solutions that will save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women and protect the environment.”
About the Gyapa™ Stove
The Gyapa™ cookstove relies upon a ceramic liner that is both durable and efficient in harnessing and storing heat during the cooking process, thus reducing fuel usage. The external metal casing is made from recycled aluminum roofing sheets, external casings from AC units and refrigerators, and even car doors and hoods.
About the need for clean cookstoves
Cooking shouldn’t kill, but nearly 3 billion people in the developing world still cook food and heat their homes with traditional cookstoves or open fires. The resulting air pollution causes respiratory disease and in addition, millions of tonnes of CO2 are generated, contributing to climate change.
Improved cookstoves offer a simple solution. Using less fuel they save families money, reduce deforestation and indoor air pollution, and cut CO2 emissions.
About Relief International and Gyapa™ Enterprises
Gyapa™ Enterprises is the flagship social enterprise program of Relief International, using sustainable, enterprise-oriented solutions to combat poverty’s systemic impacts. Relief International’s social enterprise program has built local, private-sector driven efficiencies in energy, water, agriculture and natural products/natural resource management value chains.
Relief International is a U.S.-UK based global humanitarian organization that transforms adversity into renewal for the world’s most vulnerable populations. Relief International’s team of 1,500 relief and development professionals work to bridge the gap between immediate emergency relief and long-term community development through innovative and holistic programming that is grassroots-based. For more information, please visit Relief International (RI) at www.ri.org and www.gyapa.com.
About Gold Standard
At Gold Standard, we believe in a climate secure world where sustainable development brings life-changing benefits to communities everywhere. As a standard and certification body, we work to ensure every dollar of climate and development funding goes as far as it can. We design processes that amplify the impact of projects and verify their outcomes – inspiring greater confidence that drives investment to accomplish even more. With more than 80 NGO supporters and 1,100 projects in more than 70 countries, our projects have delivered billions of dollars in climate and development outcomes in local communities all around the world. For more information, please visit: www.goldstandard.org
About ClimateCare
ClimateCare is a certified B Corporation. We believe that climate change, poverty and sustainable development cannot be tackled in isolation. And that we cannot rely solely on aid. Governments and business must work together to deliver the speed and scale of change required to secure a sustainable future.
That’s why, for the past 19 years, we have mobilised the power and scale of both private and public finance for integrated Climate+Care programmes, which deliver positive environmental and social impacts around the world.
We combine the vision of a social enterprise and the commercial experience of an investment bank. Leveraging mainstream funding, we profitably deliver some of the largest, most successful sustainability initiatives in the world. To date we have worked with hundreds of partners to cut over 20.6 million tonnes of CO2 and at the same time, improved the lives of 16.5 million people.
Find out more at www.climatecare.org
Follow ClimateCare on twitter: @ClimateCare
Press enquiries and image requestsPlease contact: Rhiannon Szmigielski, ClimateCareTel: +44 (0)1865 591000Email: rhiannon.szmigielski@climatecare.org
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