Keeling Curve

Primary Project Category:

Secondary Project Category:

Project Summary / Description:

Founded in 2011, BURN‚ mission is to save lives and forests, saving money, fuel, time, and natural resources. Our products dramatically reduce harmful smoke emissions, a leading cause of premature deaths and respiratory-related diseases. Globally, over 2.4 billion people rely on polluting fuels such as wood, charcoal, and kerosene for their cooking needs, with over 800 million living in Sub-Saharan Africa, dramatically affecting their health and productivity. Polluting fuels also contribute to a wide range of negative environmental and climate change effects including deforestation due to unsustainable harvesting of fuelwood. 

To reduce deforestation and improve public health and productivity, BURN has been designing and testing a new suite of modern, resilient, affordable IOT asset-financed electric products since 2019. Building on our success with our improved cookstoves in the region, this product will continue to improve livelihoods, break down barriers to gender equality and promote environmental sustainability.

Regions of Operations:

How Project Affects Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions:

Reduces GHGs (e.g., projects that reduce sources of GHGs, such as through efficiency or other changes in consumption)

Best Estimate of GHG Avoidance/Reduction of This Project (Tonnes CO2 Equivalent/Year):

Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

The ECOATM EPC majorly targets the Sub-Saharan Africa market, a region identified as most vulnerable to the increasing effects of climate change. BURN‚ products are female-focused by design and directly target women due to the traditional role they play in household chores including meal preparation and collecting/purchasing cooking fuel. The project empowers climate-vulnerable communities, including women and youth in the following ways:
Saves time and money in fuel purchase or collection. Initial pilots show that BURN‚ electric product line including EPCs saves customers up to USD 1,700 over seven years and reduces cooking time by over 70%. The EPC also reduces cooking time, allowing our customers, particularly women, to engage in other productive activities such as income-generating activities, education, etc. The product also provides safety as cooking fuel collection often requires walking long distances carrying heavy loads, leaving women, girls, and children vulnerable to dangers and other health issues. 
Reduces air pollution by reducing smoke and carbon emissions improving the health of our customers. Initial pilots show that BURN‚ ECOA‚Ñ¢ electric products reduce air pollution by up to 100% in comparison to other cooking stoves/fuels, save approximately 3.8 tons of CO2 emissions per product p.a. and our clean cooking solutions decrease deforestation by reducing the number of trees cut down to support cooking fuel needs. 
Employment opportunities: BURN‚ electric business has provided employment for over 80 staff, reducing unemployment and improving working conditions. Overall, BURN employs over 2,000 women, with 60% being women.

Sub-Categories:

Mission Statement:

BURN designs, manufactures, and distributes energy-efficient, durable and affordable cookstoves targeting low-income households. As the largest vertically integrated modern cookstove company in Sub-Saharan Africa, BURN provides world-class R&D, manufacturing, and carbon offset projects from its HQ in Kenya. Since 2014, BURN has sold over 2.8 million stoves, saved over 6.9 million tons of wood, reduced carbon emissions by over 12.3 million tons, impacted over 15.4 million lives, created over 2,000 jobs (60% women), and enabled household savings of over $520 million. BURN has expanded its presence to over 20 countries across Western, Central, and Southern Africa as well as South-East Asia. 
BURN has begun sales in Tanzania, Ghana, Kenya, Zambia, Mozambique and DRC for the electric product launch in 2023 based on high electrification rates and successful pilot testing, with an aim to sell over 40,000 EPC units in these regions in 2023.