Over 2.8 billion people in the world still cook using some form of biomass such as charcoal or wood. Our portfolio of fuel efficient cookstove projects seek to reduce CO2 emissions generated by traditional cooking methods.
This project supports several UN SDGs including:
3 Good health and wellbeing
5 Gender equality
13 Climate action
Vitol has been a participant in carbon markets since 2007, trading over 100 million metric tons of carbon last year alone. Built into our trading model is a growing portfolio of carbon offset projects, with mature projects already in action in Africa.
One of our largest projects seeks to reduce carbon emissions from domestic cooking. Over 2.8 billion people in the world still cook using some form of biomass such as charcoal or wood. Improving access to more efficient domestic cookstoves results in less CO2 emitted when burnt, reduces household pollution and decreases deforestation rates. To help address this, we are partnering with specialist project developers to distribute fuel efficient cookstoves across Kenya, South Africa, Zambia, Burundi, Nigeria, Tanzania and the DRC, with more projects in the pipeline. So far, we have distributed over 1.1 million cookstoves in these countries. Our cookstove portfolio has the potential to generate in excess of 5 million tCO2e of emission reductions per year.
Recently we have also funded a company in Uganda that distributes water purification devices that avoid the need for users to boil lake or river water on an open wood fire. This project reduces CO2 emissions and can contribute to improved water quality and health benefits.
We only pursue projects that have a high social impact and tangible co-benefits for people and the environment. This means that as well as the climate benefits of avoided emissions, our projects seek to improve the quality of life in the local communities we operate in.
Investing directly in a project is the best way to assure a project’s quality and optimise a project’s design. All of our projects are certified by leading voluntary offset standards and as of 2023, subject to an independent 3rd party review- ensuring our carbon credits are high-quality.