EcoSafi announces the first issuance of carbon credits in Africa under high-integrity Gold Standard MECD methodology

The best-in-class clean cooking emission reductions issuance by EcoSafi ushers in a new era of trust, integrity and verifiability within clean cooking carbon markets in Africa

NAIROBI, Kenya, May 08, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, EcoSafi, the clean cooking biofuel utility and champion for integrity in carbon markets, and Gold Standard, the world-leading carbon and sustainable development standard, announced the first-ever carbon credits generated in Africa under Gold Standard’s industry-leading Metered and Measured Energy Cooking Devices (MECD) methodology. EcoSafi’s “tool and fuel” approach, which combines clean gasifying cookstoves with sustainable biofuel and high carbon provability, has solidified the company’s position as a leader in developing premium credits in Africa.

Clean cooking is at the forefront of the international sustainability and development agenda given its benefits for health, gender and climate. Across the world, burning harmful fuels like wood, charcoal and kerosene for cooking leads to the premature deaths of 3.2 million people, a figure disproportionately impacting women and children. It is one of the leading causes of deforestation in Africa, and woodfuels used in cooking produce the equivalent of one gigaton of carbon dioxide every year – more than the combined emissions of the entire commercial aviation industry.

“Cooking dinner with outdated fuels kills cooks and forests. We are working to give families a cleaner, safer way to cook, with our best-in-class product and trusted, premium carbon credits,” said Tom Price, CEO of EcoSafi. “Carbon credits are notoriously difficult to verify, so we built unmatched certainty and measurability directly into our process. This level of insight helps us stay ahead of the curve and earn the trust of the most diligent buyers on the market.”

Gold Standard is internationally recognized by market stakeholders for developing the most robust methodologies to measure impact and deliver the highest-quality clean cooking carbon credits. Its MECD methodology is its most stringent, linking the calculation of the carbon credits directly to metrics like stove use and fuel sales. This marks only the second issuance of credits under the methodology in the world, and the first ever for a biomass-fueled solution and the first from a project located in Africa.

“Gold Standard-certified clean cooking projects have reduced over 90 million tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere to date, leading to a calculated 23 billion US dollars in shared value” said Margaret Kim, CEO of Gold Standard. “A project like EcoSofi’s goes beyond carbon – they bring sustainable development to communities that need it the most.”

EcoSafi’s ability to achieve certification under the MECD methodology is directly related to its commercial viability and foresight surrounding verifiable emissions. It represents one of the first opportunities for a truly sustainable clean cooking business in Africa that is unit profitable on fuel sales:

• EcoSafi is based in Kenya, where customers receive a premium cookstove for a nominal service fee in return for a subscription to low cost clean cooking fuel.
• EcoSafi’s sustainable biomass fuel pellets, generated from sugarcane waste in Kenya, burn cleaner, greener, and more cost-efficiently than anything on the market, reducing emissions by more than 90% compared to charcoal.
• Baked into its business model is a rigorous process to ensure veracity and accuracy of avoided emissions, including the ability to draw a direct line from feedstock to end use in the customer’s kitchen.
• EcoSafi sells its pellet fuel up to 40% cheaper than charcoal or LPG without subsidy while still generating a gross profit, but requires carbon credits to help finance the high capital and operating costs (including the premium clean cookstove, pellet manufacturing infrastructure and fuel distribution, among others).

Having proven the model for high integrity offsets commanding premium pricing, EcoSafi is now developing a multinational, multi-million carbon credit program under the Gold Standard MECD methodology.

EcoSafi announced the news ahead of the International Energy Agency’s Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa on May 14th at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, where it was invited as one of nine participants to showcase its clean cooking technology for attending heads-of-state and other high-profile sector stakeholders.

For more information on purchasing EcoSafi’s high-quality, high-integrity carbon credits, contact carbon@ecosafi.com.

About EcoSafi
EcoSafi is a biofuel utility company delivering on the promise of clean cooking and high quality carbon credits in Africa. It offers a premium cookstove and low-cost, sustainable biofuel made from agricultural waste to replace the burning of harmful wood fuels – the leading source of climate emissions per household in the developing world, and a leading driver of deforestation in Africa. A champion for integrity around carbon markets, EcoSafi scales its impact via high-quality carbon credits, trusted by the most rigorous buyers on the market.