Low Smoke Cookstoves - Darfur, Sudan

This award-winning Gold Standard cleaner cookstoves offsetting project is the first registered carbon credit project in Sudan and the first to be developed in a conflict zone. It is reducing emissions whilst helping families to breathe cleaner indoor air.

Project Summary

The project was developed to improve household health by replacing traditional cooking methods – burning wood and charcoal inside the home – with low smoke LPG stoves.

26.1 million people in Sudan do not have access to clean cooking and are reliant on biomass for cooking fuel. In addition to this, burning wood releases large amounts of  particulates, carbon monoxide and other pollutants. Traditionally, women cook on  open fires inside their homes.  Consequently, health issues related to  indoor air pollution in Sudan kill more  people than Malaria, Tuberculosis and HIV combined.

This carbon offsetting project works to reduce the damaging impacts of both deforestation and indoor smoke to improve the environment of Sudan and the well-being of many Sudanese families.


The Results

Almost 100% of families using the new cookstoves delivered by the project state that indoor air quality has greatly improved.

Each stove installed in a household in Darfur saves 4.5 tCO₂e – equivalent to one passenger flying 3 times between London and New York.

The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves states that cooking with efficient low smoke LPG reduces most key pollutants by over 95% and reduces energy consumption by 50-70%.

100% of households have reported decreases in energy expenditure.

26% of women are starting new income generating activities, with a further 8% expanding existing activities with the time saved no longer having to collect wood.

58% of women said they had more time to spend with their children.

48% of women surveyed said their husbands have even showed more interest in the cooking with the new stoves.