India – Clean cooking empowers women and helps the climate
Cookstoves
In India, access to clean cooking stoves means much more than just lower CO₂ emissions. It contributes to better health, reduces pressure on biomass resources, creates more economic opportunities for women and builds stronger communities that are better able to cope with climate change.
In rural India, millions of households still cook over open fires every day. Burning wood produces large amounts of CO₂ emissions, accelerates deforestation and causes severe indoor air pollution. Women and children, in particular, are exposed to this on a daily basis.
The consequences are severe. Every year, more than a million people in India die as a result of indoor air pollution, including around 100,000 children. At the same time, the country is increasingly facing the effects of climate change. Prolonged droughts, heavy rainfall and unpredictable seasons are making it increasingly difficult for small-scale farmers to produce enough food and generate a sufficient income.
That is why, since 2021, FairClimateFund has been working with FCF India on a programme to provide improved cooking stoves in the districts of Kalahandi and Kandhamal in the state of Odisha. The project builds on an initiative that FCF India has been running since 2016. By certifying the CO₂ reductions achieved as carbon credits, the programme becomes financially sustainable and enables more families to gain access to clean cooking technology.
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Project details
The project reaches more than 14,000 women across 650 SHE Schools. In these women’s groups, participants learn about clean cooking, sustainable energy, more efficient fuel use, and the benefits of improved cookstoves for health, the environment, and the climate.
The improved cookstoves are fully pre-financed. Participants can purchase a cookstove at an 80% discount. They pay the remaining 20 per cent themselves. This amount is paid into the Fairtrade Carbon co-operative, whose members collectively decide how the money is to be reinvested in their community.
Thanks to the Fairtrade Climate Standard, the participants are organised into a Fairtrade Carbon-certified co-operative that owns the carbon credits. The proceeds from these credits are used to maintain the cookstoves, support farmers and provide training to help families better adapt to the effects of climate change. Any additional income flows directly back to the co-operative and thus remains in the hands of the community.
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