Impact Carbon generates carbon-emission reductions from household energy projects that improve living conditions in the less-developed communities we serve.  We leverage the financial returns to benefit local partners and people.  The co-benefits from these projects address some of the greatest needs in developing countries.

Cutting Indoor Air Pollution

The World Health Organization ranks indoor air pollution (IAP) as one of the top five health risks in developing nations.  Worldwide, IAP from cooking with solid fuels results in approximately 1.6 million premature deaths annually, or one death every 20 seconds.  Of these deaths, 900,000 occur among children under 5 years old.

Exposure to indoor air pollution from cooking smoke is particularly high and thus especially damaging for women and children, who spend the greatest amount of time cooking. Chronic exposure to smoke and other related forms of IAP carry a litany of side effects and risk factors, including acute respiratory infections, lung cancer, blindness, low birth weight and an increase in stillbirths.  There are also secondary health problems, such as burns and injuries sustained during the arduous process of collecting fuel.

Unfortunately, the number of people cooking with IAP-causing solid fuels only shows signs of increasing. However, technologies such as improved stoves, chimneys, venting and cleaner burning fuels have been shown to reduce many of the health risks mentioned above.  Impact Carbon works to make these innovations available at affordable prices.

It is clear that a combination of appropriate technology and smart infrastructure development can significantly alleviate health problems and improve living standards.  It is also clear that sustained use of improved household stoves and cleaner burning fuels has a measurable effect on the burden of IAP.

Providing Access to Energy

Approximately half of the world’s families use biomass, charcoal and crop residues for cooking fuel.  Dependence on polluting biomass fuels not only poses a major health burden on poor families, it also inhibits economic development.  Inefficient cooking technologies require families to spend a greater proportion of income on fuel, as well as a significant percentage of time gathering fuel and cooking.  This constricts resources and renders families unable to obtain cleaner, more efficient fuels and technologies.

The corresponding demand for fuel also places undue strain on the environment.  According to the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization, deforestation is the most widespread environmental problem in East and Central Africa.  Collecting fuel for cooking is a major contributing factor.

Forest destruction leads to greater competition for fuel, requiring women to more frequently walk farther afield to obtain the same amount of fuel.  Deforestation destroys ecosystems by threatening biodiversity and causing erosion.  And, poorly burned biomass is a major source of soot (also known as black carbon), which contributes to global warming and is directly linked to the melting of the Himalayan glaciers.

Simple improvements in household energy technologies result in improved socioeconomic circumstances.  Reducing dependence on polluting fuels has myriad benefits such as improved environmental sustainability, increased free time and greater financial freedom.

Fighting Climate Change

Climate change poses a threat on a local as well as global scale. From rising sea levels to extreme temperatures, drought and famine, the effects of a warming planet place a tremendous stress on the environment. The greatest burden, from finding water to collecting fuel, is often felt by the most marginalized communities – people in developing countries who must compete for increasingly scarce resources. As temperatures rise, food, fuel and water become more and more difficult to find, and diseases like malaria spread more quickly as parasites develop at a rapid rate. Conflict over dwindling resources in developing countries often leads to political instability.

Globally, we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Science tells us we must reduce our emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2050. This dramatic change means that we must develop a comprehensive and multi-faceted solution: improve energy efficiency, reduce dependence on fossil fuels, and focus on environmentally sustainable practices.

Impact Carbon works to alleviate the pressures of climate change by distributing clean household energy technologies to marginalized communities. Technologies such as energy-efficient cookstoves not only improve health by reducing indoor air pollution, they also reduce the demand for fuel from local forests, which reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Additionally, the clean-burning cookstoves reduce greenhouse gas emissions and soot.