Washington, DC - Secretary of State John Kerry, U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Rajiv Shah, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy today announced up to $200 million in expected renewed and enhanced support by the United States for the clean cooking sector and the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (Alliance).
These actions will help improve health, reduce environmental degradation, mitigate climate change, and generate economic empowerment and opportunity for women and girls.
Building on the United States’ initial commitment from 2011-2015, these new expected contributions bring the cumulative anticipated U.S. contribution commitment to this sector and the Alliance up to $325 million through 2020.
In January 2015, the Alliance will launch Phase 2 of its ten-year Strategic Business Plan to scale up operations towards its goal of enabling 100 million households to adopt clean cookstoves by 2020.
Nearly 3 billion people have no option but to cook over traditional stoves and open fires, and the World Health Organization estimates that exposure to smoke from these stoves leads to over 4 million premature deaths each year.
These exposures rank as the world’s fourth worst health risk – and the second worst for women and girls.
The Alliance is led by the United Nations Foundation with over 1000 public, private, multilateral, and nonprofit partners that aim to create a thriving global market for clean and efficient household cooking solutions.
This new U.S. support spans multiple funding agencies and targets three broad activities (all projected support is subject to the availability of funds):
- Financing: To enable the growth of commercial businesses that design, make, distribute, or sell clean or efficient cooking stoves and fuels, USAID is partnering with the Swedish International Development Agency, financial partners, and institutional investors to mobilize up to $125 million in new private financing for manufacturers and distributors of clean cookstoves and fuels. In addition, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation is renewing its prior commitment of up to $50 million in debt financing for cookstoves businesses.
- Evidence Base: To further develop the evidence base for successful interventions, the EPA and the Department of Health and Human Services’ National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plan to invest $59 million in research, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will provide technical assistance, related to the performance, adoption, and health, climate and air quality benefits of clean and efficient cooking solutions.
- Field Implementation: The Department of State, USAID, and EPA plan to invest $16 million to help scale adoption of stoves and fuels that meet household energy needs and release fewer pollutants, as a means to improve health, empower women, reduce environmental degradation, mitigate climate change, and foster economic growth. The Peace Corps will ensure that its cookstove programs are closely aligned with Alliance strategy.
“We have the opportunity to significantly improve the health of millions of people around the world, especially women and girls, who cook over open fires or stoves as well as decrease emissions that add to climate change, so we are taking combined action now. EPA is proud to build on our leadership and invest over $21 million through 2020 to help develop international standards and evaluate stoves and fuels, with a particular focus on achieving the health, climate, and air quality benefits of clean and efficient cooking.”
- Gina McCarthy, EPA Administrator the Environmental Protection Agency
"USAID is pioneering a new model of development--harnessing the power of science, technology, and innovation to create cutting-edge solutions to our toughest global challenges. In partnership with the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, we are mobilizing new private sector investment to create cleaner and more efficient cookstoves that can potentially benefit billions of vulnerable people around the world."
- Dr. Rajiv Shah, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development
“Household air pollution contributes to over 4 million deaths annually, with women and children living in poverty at the greatest risk. The National Institutes of Health is committed to supporting research that will provide a solid evidence base for reductions in health risks from cookstove replacement programs, including research that will explore how to encourage cultural acceptance of cleaner cookstoves and fuel technologies.”
- Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the National Institutes of Health
“CDC work shows that clean cookstoves can help prevent heart disease, lung disease and lung cancer, cervical cancer, and low birth weight. More investment scaling up cleaner, safer cooking solutions will save lives.”
- Thomas Frieden, M.D., Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
“Clean cookstoves and fuels help the Department of State meet so many of our diplomatic priorities – from improving human health to combatting climate change to advancing the status of women and girls around the globe. We are proud to have played a central role in launching the Alliance in 2010, and we are proud today to help lead its growth forward as it transitions to this critical growth stage that can bring such important benefits to so many.”
- Drew O’Brien, Secretary of State’s Special Representative for Global Partnerships at the Department of State
