The Carbon Credit Conundrum: Overcrediting Cookstove GHG Reductions

Tuesday - January 23 2024, 18:21 UTC - 10 months ago

A new study from UC Berkeley has found that the current carbon offset methodologies for efficient cookstoves overestimate their GHG emissions reductions by a factor of 10. This undermines climate change efforts and trust in the carbon market. The study's recommendations could lead to improved offset trust and support for efficient cookstoves.

A new study from the University of California, Berkeley has found that global carbon markets are overcrediting greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions from efficient cookstoves in developing countries by a factor of 10. This overestimation undermines efforts to combat carbon emissions and slow climate change, as companies use these offsets to meet targets and sell products labeled as 'carbon neutral' instead of making real reductions in emissions. Furthermore, it erodes trust in the carbon market and its ability to support the long-term financing of efficient stoves.

This study, published in the journal Nature Sustainability, is the first comprehensive, quantitative assessment of any type of offset project. Researchers compared five different methodologies for evaluating cookstove emissions reductions to published studies and their own independent analysis. According to lead author and sustainability professor Daniel Kammen, integrating the science, human rights, and economics of clean cooking is crucial for both social justice and climate strategies globally. The study, originally released in preprint form, has already garnered significant attention from various communities, such as those focused on health and sustainable development.

Cookstove offsets have become increasingly popular due to the fact that approximately 2.4 billion people still cook with inefficient and smoky solid fuels or kerosene, contributing to 2 to 3 million premature deaths and 2% of global GHG emissions annually. The distribution of efficient cookstoves can not only save lives, but also reduce the time and money spent on collecting firewood or purchasing fuel. In fact, efficient cookstoves are now the fastest-growing project type on the voluntary carbon market, with the second-largest share of issued credits in the first ten months of 2023.