The Promise of Improved Cookstoves in the Developing World

A Traditional Cookstove Setup in Vietnam

The recent news from the Clinton Global Initiative that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is committing $50 million to funding clean cookstoves is fantastic news for the poor in developing nations, particularly women and girls. Spearheaded by the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (run by the United Nations Foundation), this initiative will address a pervasive problem that kills over 2 million people a year and sickens countless others.

The topic of cookstoves is one near and dear to PISA: using money provided by a micro-grant at the 2009 PISA Summer Institute on Global Climate Change, a team of academics and researchers from Vietnam embarked on a project to bring clean cookstoves to the village of Ban Nhop, Vietnam. In fact, less than a month before Clinton’s announcement we posted an interview with project lead Dr. Doan Duc Lan about his progress. The team has already completed GIS map surveys, sociological assessments of the village, has designed four improved cookstove models and begun training villagers on their construction. As this project moves forward it is gratifying to see a figure like Secretary Clinton affirm the importance of our work.

A Model of a New Brick Improved Cookstove in Vietnam, developed by Dr. Lan's Team With Support from PISA

One feature of the Global Alliance’s plan is a public-private partnership that will, “work with public, private, and non-profit partners to help overcome the market barriers that currently impede the production, deployment, and use of clean cookstoves in the developing world.” Unlike PISA’s effort – a public-nonprofit collaboration – the Global Alliance plan will, according to the New York Times, use an, “entrepreneurial model in which small companies manufacture or buy the stoves close to their markets.” Such an approach holds promise and peril. Private companies may have resources and assets unavailable to even nonprofit groups with big-name endorsements. There is, however, a risk that a profit motive could introduce a barrier to obtaining the cookstoves. Many of the 3 billion worldwide users of these stoves are simply too poor to buy cleaner, greener alternatives, however they are priced.

In the wider view though, any effort to introduce more efficient and pollutant-free stoves is an important step. We look forward to updating you as the Ban Nhop moves forward and scales up.

The Obama Adminstration and Climate Change: An OverviewCLi

As President Obama and his advisers unveil their plans for the coming term, one thing seems certain: the new administration will usher in a sea change for climate change policy in the United States. For the first time, America is led by an executive who understands the perils of climate change and is committed to doing something about it.

The President’s new energy plan is unmistakably clear: “Global warming is real, is happening now, and is the result of human activities.” Among the plan’s ambitious goals:

Barack Obama Delivers Speech on Energy Efficiency

• An 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050,

• A 100% auction cap-and-trade program, estimated to raise $646 billion in revenue

by 2019,

• Significant spending on alternative energy, efficiency research and implementation;

• Reengagement with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC),

• A new forum for large greenhouse gas emitters including the G-8 nations plus Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa; and

• A new focus on reforestation and carbon sequestration.

Releasing this plan within his first month in office is a sure signal to the United States and to the world that confronting climate change is front-and-center of Obama’s legislative priorities. Even the $787 billion stimulus package includes several “green” provisions, with great potential to spur progress in climate change and energy research.

Climate change experts and foreign leaders internationally, however, are approaching the new administration with cautious optimism, but reporters at the December 2008 UNFCCC talks in Poland found international representatives hopeful that Obama’s “yes we can” mentality would carry over to the field of climate change. Acknowledging the higher concentration of climate skeptics in the U.S., Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, nonetheless said, “What’s happened in this country in the last two years is encouraging. The president is now strongly interested in this issue. Congress is dominated by Democrats who are also interested.” Foreign leaders, many of whom have taken political risks such as Mexico’s pledge to halve its emissions, will surely expect the U.S. to follow suit.

Barack Obama Meets with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper

International outreach and collaboration are indeed on the current Administration’s agenda. Obama met with Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper in February to discuss climate change and Canada’s controversial plans to exploit their oil sands. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in her “maiden voyage”, met with counterparts in China and emphasized cooperation on climate change and clean energy, especially considering the United States and China combined emit approximately 40% of the world’s total greenhouse gases. Grist’s environmental blog highlights a roundup

of the administration’s efforts to date, prospects for future climate change policy, and analyses of obstacles as well as allies in the House, Senate, industry and nonprofits.

To our international readers, what seems to be the general consensus regarding the U.S. Administration’s energy policy and Clinton’s visits to Japan, China, South Korea, and Indonesia? What strategies should the Administration pursue to mitigate climate change, and how can the Administration integrate efforts into those of the international community?