Greenplinth Africa Signs $1.5bn Carbon Credit for 80m ‘Cookstoves’ Project

Peter Uzoho

Greenplinth Africa, a pan-African green solutions corporation, has signed a $1.5 billion agreement for carbon credit for the funding of the 80 million Cookstoves Project targeted at distributing free clean cookstoves to Nigerian women and households -a landmark carbon reduction strategy.

Chief Executive Officer of Greenplinth Africa, Olawale Akinkumi, disclosed this in Lagos at the flag-off of the project in collaboration with key local and international development partners. 

With an estimated over 180 million Nigerians lacking access to clean-cooking fuels and technologies, the project aims to deployed clean cookstoves at no cost to the beneficiaries and will drastically reduce the use of traditional firewood during cooking to over 90 percent.

The project involves the procurement, pre-fabrication, assembling and commissioning of highly efficient fuel wood cookstoves as well as planting of 4 billion trees at 50 trees per one cookstove by 2030.

Akinkumi stated that actualising the project would entail robust sensitisation campaigns and training of users mainly in households across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

“It is the most efficient cooking stove that makes use of waste wood, unlike the regular cooking methods that use large chunks of firewood. It is going to be distributed for free to beneficiaries because it is being financed through carbon credit. We have signed a $1.5 billion agreement for carbon credit,” he added.

National Coordinator of Africa Union Development Agency – New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD) Nigeria, Gloria Akobundu, said the project was important to the health of Nigerian women who bear the brunt of using harmful cooking practices.

“We need clean cookstoves to help our women live healthy lives; make the environment healthy, minimise the cost of cooking especially spending money on buying gas or kerosene and the money saved would be used for other household needs.

“The clean stove would eliminate the need to cut our forest and reduce the rate of erosion, desert encroachment and flooding and the nation would have more arable land for farming,” she explained.

Senior Special Assistant to Lagos State Governor on Climate Change and Circular Economy, Titilayo Oshodi, described the project as a important step towards improving health, empowering women and protecting the environment.

Global President of the UNIPGC, Jonathan Ojadah, expressed his delight in partnering with Greenplinth Africa in the project targeted at women from disadvantaged homes in Nigeria, adding that the initiative tackles issues of greenhouse gas emission and also empowers families by providing them with sustainable cooking solutions.