EcoSafi announces the first issuance of carbon credits in Africa under high-integrity Gold Standard MECD methodology
08 Mayo 2024 - 6:00AM
Today, EcoSafi, the clean cooking biofuel utility and champion for
integrity in carbon markets, and Gold Standard, the world-leading
carbon and sustainable development standard, announced the
first-ever carbon credits generated in Africa under Gold Standard’s
industry-leading Metered and Measured Energy Cooking Devices (MECD)
methodology. EcoSafi’s “tool and fuel” approach, which combines
clean gasifying cookstoves with sustainable biofuel and high carbon
provability, has solidified the company’s position as a leader in
developing premium credits in Africa.
Clean cooking is at the forefront of the
international sustainability and development agenda given its
benefits for health, gender and climate. Across the world, burning
harmful fuels like wood, charcoal and kerosene for cooking leads to
the premature deaths of 3.2 million people, a figure
disproportionately impacting women and children. It is one of the
leading causes of deforestation in Africa, and woodfuels used in
cooking produce the equivalent of one gigaton of carbon
dioxide every year – more than the combined emissions of the
entire commercial aviation industry.
“Cooking dinner with outdated fuels kills cooks
and forests. We are working to give families a cleaner, safer way
to cook, with our best-in-class product and trusted, premium carbon
credits,” said Tom Price, CEO of EcoSafi. “Carbon credits are
notoriously difficult to verify, so we built unmatched certainty
and measurability directly into our process. This level of insight
helps us stay ahead of the curve and earn the trust of the most
diligent buyers on the market.”
Gold Standard is internationally recognized by
market stakeholders for developing the most robust methodologies to
measure impact and deliver the highest-quality clean cooking carbon
credits. Its MECD methodology is its most stringent, linking the
calculation of the carbon credits directly to metrics like stove
use and fuel sales. This marks only the second issuance of credits
under the methodology in the world, and the first ever for a
biomass-fueled solution and the first from a project located in
Africa.
“Gold Standard-certified clean cooking projects
have reduced over 90 million tonnes of CO2 from entering the
atmosphere to date, leading to a calculated 23 billion US dollars
in shared value” said Margaret Kim, CEO of Gold Standard. “A
project like EcoSofi’s goes beyond carbon – they bring sustainable
development to communities that need it the most.”
EcoSafi’s ability to achieve certification under
the MECD methodology is directly related to its commercial
viability and foresight surrounding verifiable emissions. It
represents one of the first opportunities for a truly sustainable
clean cooking business in Africa that is unit profitable on fuel
sales:
- EcoSafi is based in Kenya, where customers receive a premium
cookstove for a nominal service fee in return for a subscription to
low cost clean cooking fuel.
- EcoSafi’s sustainable biomass fuel pellets, generated from
sugarcane waste in Kenya, burn cleaner, greener, and more
cost-efficiently than anything on the market, reducing emissions by
more than 90% compared to charcoal.
- Baked into its business model is a rigorous process to ensure
veracity and accuracy of avoided emissions, including the ability
to draw a direct line from feedstock to end use in the customer’s
kitchen.
- EcoSafi sells its pellet fuel up to 40% cheaper than charcoal
or LPG without subsidy while still generating a gross profit, but
requires carbon credits to help finance the high capital and
operating costs (including the premium clean cookstove, pellet
manufacturing infrastructure and fuel distribution, among
others).
Having proven the model for high integrity offsets
commanding premium pricing, EcoSafi is now developing a
multinational, multi-million carbon credit program under the Gold
Standard MECD methodology.
EcoSafi announced the news ahead of the
International Energy Agency’s Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa on
May 14th at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, where it was invited as
one of nine participants to showcase its clean cooking technology
for attending heads-of-state and other high-profile sector
stakeholders.
For more information on purchasing EcoSafi's
high-quality, high-integrity carbon credits, contact
carbon@ecosafi.com.
About EcoSafi EcoSafi is a biofuel
utility company delivering on the promise of clean cooking and high
quality carbon credits in Africa. It offers a premium cookstove and
low-cost, sustainable biofuel made from agricultural waste to
replace the burning of harmful wood fuels – the leading source of
climate emissions per household in the developing world, and a
leading driver of deforestation in Africa. A champion for integrity
around carbon markets, EcoSafi scales its impact via high-quality
carbon credits, trusted by the most rigorous buyers on the
market.