SCB Group, the low-carbon commodity dealing company, has agreed to supply thousands of high-efficiency, carbon-reducing cookstoves to poorer rural communities across Rwanda, as part of a project that reduces carbon and contributes to nine sustainable development goals.
The investment, which will support the distribution of 25,000 cookstoves, is part of a new partnership with DelAgua Group Limited, which has been running the Rwanda project since 2012 in partnership with country's national government.
SCB and DelAgua signed an agreement in May 2022, with the environmental impact meriting carbon credits to be issued in or around the fourth quarter of 2023.
SCB's support is expected to benefit at least 100,000 people in the country over more than a ten-year stove lifespan, with the DelAgua stoves designed to improve the health of rural families solely reliant on firewood to boil water and cook food.
The stoves require 71% less wood than traditional open fires and can burn efficiently using small twigs and tinder.
With more than 90% of Rwanda's biomass energy usage used for cooking, according to the Rwanda Energy Group, it is estimated that each DelAgua stove prevents the release of more than 35 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere over its lifespan, while keeping more trees in the ground leads to 64,000 sq m of forestry being saved every year.
Independent audits show 99% of stoves are in daily use two years after distribution.
DelAgua, which is connected to the University of Surrey, trains and pays a local team of community health workers to lead the project, as well as providing ongoing support of the stove beneficiaries, and monitoring usage and the issuance of carbon credits.
SCB chief executive Kevin McGeeney, who visited a cookstove distribution in Kinigi Sector in rural Rwanda, said: “We’re seeing first-hand that these cookstoves help families enjoy normal meals together rather than stressful days spent searching for wood and long waits around a smoky fire for dinner that sometimes never happens as woodfuel is so scarce. The benefits of this project are truly valued at a community level, and we are equally proud to relay these gains via the carbon offsetting programmes that are helping companies achieve their carbon-neutral targets."
DelAgua’s chairman and co-founder Neil McDougall said the project can succeed “through the support of innovative finance and this investment by SCB Group delivers better health for Rwandans and a better environment for all.”