Ecologi Update: Efficient Cooking In Tanzania

It’s time for our latest Ecologi update, to let you know how our partnership with Ecologi is supporting climate-positive projects around the globe. This month we’re in Tanzania, where Ecologi are supporting a project to introduce more efficient cookstoves, in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. 

Cooking & The Climate

In many countries, the most common source of heat for cooking is the burning of non-renewable biomass—usually wood. The cooking stoves used to burn this biomass are often not efficient enough to really make the best use of the available fuel, which in turn leads to high levels of unsustainable deforestation.

There’s another downside to this, too: burning more biomass than necessary results in even more greenhouse gas emissions, in turn contributing to climate change. And these emissions aren’t just bad for the planet—the air pollution they produce is also detrimental to the health of the people nearby, affecting respiratory health.

The Situation In Tanzania 

Tanzania has a population of around 48 million, and the primary fuel source for over 90% of this population is biomass, either in the form of firewood or charcoal. In data from 2020 it was revealed that less than 5% of the population had access to clean fuels for cooking, with the remaining 95% of the population having no choice but to use more polluting sources of fuel like firewood and charcoal. 

Cleaner Cooking

“Cleaner cookstoves” have benefits for both people and the environment. Reducing the amount of wood and charcoal burned results in less greenhouse gas emissions and less air pollution, but also means that less time and energy needs to be spent in collecting these fuel sources, a job which often falls to women and children. 

The Project

In this new project supported by Ecologi, 500,000 fuel-efficient improved cookstoves will be distributed and installed throughout Tanzania, replacing less efficient cooking setups, which are often open fires. 

The project will bring benefits for the local people, including freeing up time and money (otherwise spent collecting or buying fuel sources) for other income-generating activities, and health benefits as a result of reduced exposure to air pollution in the home.

Projects like this often bring more benefits to women than men, as women are often the primary users of cooking equipment within the project areas. Time saved by using the more efficient cookstoves can be spent on income-generating activities or relaxation, leading to better gender equity in the project area.

And, of course, there’s the environmental benefits too: between September 2020 and September 2030, this project is estimated to avoid the production of over 18.8 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.