In Kenya, these clean cookstoves are being subsidized by carbon credits

In Kenya, a company called BURN is selling clean cookstoves for as little as $3 each by using carbon credits. These stoves reduce the health threat to families by cutting indoor air pollution.

BURN's stoves have special holes in the sides that draw more air into the flame, converting poisonous carbon monoxide into safer CO2. The stoves are also designed to minimize heat loss, meaning they burn less wood, which is better for the environment and cheaper for families.

A third of the global population cooks using open fires or inefficient stoves, generating harmful indoor pollution that kills 3.2 million people a year. Women and children, who typically perform most indoor tasks, often bear the brunt.

The cost of switching to new stoves can be too high, but BURN's use of carbon credits makes the stoves affordable for families. BURN sold $37 million of credits on the carbon market by comparing the reduction in wood consumption from a BURN stove to that of a traditional stove and converting this to CO2 savings. BURN uses the revenue from carbon credits to subsidize stoves for families.

BURN designs and makes all its stoves in Kenya. It has already sold 3 million stoves and will soon expand to West Africa.

Some activists are pushing back against the carbon market system, claiming it lets polluters buy their way out of their climate obligations rather than reducing emissions.

Despite these concerns, BURN's use of carbon credits to make clean cookstoves affordable for families in Kenya is a positive development. It is helping to reduce indoor air pollution and improve the health of millions of people.