EcoSafi announces the first issuance of carbon credits in

NAIROBI, Kenya, May 8, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, EcoSafi, the clean cooking biofuel company and champion for integrity in carbon markets, and Gold Standard, the world’s leading standard for carbon and sustainable development, generated the first-ever carbon credits in Africa according Gold Standard’s industry-leading Metered and Measured Energy Cooking Devices (MECD) methodology. EcoSafi’s ‘tool and fuel’ approach, which combines clean gasifying stoves with sustainable biofuel and high CO2 detectability, has cemented the company’s position as a leader in the development of premium credits in Africa.

Clean cooking is at the top of the international sustainability and development agenda, given its benefits for health, gender and climate. All over the world, harmful fuels such as wood, charcoal and kerosene are burned when cooking leads to premature deaths of 3.2 million people, a figure that disproportionately impacts women and children. It is one of the main causes of deforestation in Africaand wood fuels used in cooking produce the equivalent of one gigatonne of carbon dioxide every year – more than the combined emissions of the entire commercial aviation industry.

“Cooking dinners with outdated fuels kills chefs and forests.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

Gold Standard is internationally recognized by industry participants for developing the most robust methodologies to measure impact and deliver the highest quality carbon credits for clean cooking. The MECD methodology is the most stringent and links the calculation of carbon credits directly to metrics such as stove use and fuel sales. This is only the second issuance of credits in the world using this methodology, and the first ever for a biomass-based solution and the first for a project in Africa.

“Gold Standard-certified clean cooking projects have released more than 90 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere to date, resulting in a calculated shared value of $23 billion,” said Margaret Kim, CEO of Gold Standard. “A project like EcoSofi’s goes beyond carbon – they bring sustainable development to communities that need it most.”

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

• EcoSafi is based in Kenya, where customers receive a premium cooking stove for a small service fee in exchange for a subscription to cheap, clean cooking fuel.
• EcoSafi’s sustainable biomass fuel pellets, generated from sugarcane waste in Kenya, burn cleaner, greener and more cost-efficient than anything on the market, reducing emissions by more than 90% compared to charcoal.
• Embedded in the business model is a rigorous process to ensure the veracity and accuracy of avoided emissions, including the ability to draw a direct line from raw material 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 needs carbon credits to help finance its high capital and operating costs (including the premium clean stove, the infrastructure for the production of pellets and fuel distribution). among other things).

After proving its high-integrity offsets model and commanding premium pricing, EcoSafi is now developing a multi-million dollar multinational 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 14 at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, where it was one of nine participants invited to demonstrate its clean cooking technology for the event. of heads of state and other high-ranking leaders. -profiling stakeholders from the sector.

For more information about purchasing EcoSafi’s high-quality, high-integrity carbon credits, please contact [email protected].

About EcoSafi
EcoSafi is a biofuels utility delivering on the promise of clean cooking and high-quality carbon credits in Africa. It provides a premium cooking stove and low-cost, sustainable biofuel made from agricultural waste to replace the burning of harmful wood fuels – the leading source of household climate emissions in the developing world, and a major driver of deforestation in Africa. EcoSafi champions carbon market integrity and scales its impact through high-quality carbon credits, trusted by the most rigorous buyers in the market.