BURN Manufacturing, a leader in creating clean cookstoves, has recently announced an important investment from Key Carbon Ltd., with support from Cartesian, a global private equity firm. This investment aims to expand the distribution of electric and biomass cookstoves across several African countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Mozambique, over the next two years.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 950 million people rely on traditional fuels like firewood or charcoal for cooking, which has harmful effects on health, the environment, economy, and gender equality. BURN’s initiative with this new funding is set to benefit approximately 1.5 million people directly by providing access to more efficient cookstoves, thus avoiding over 12 million tons of carbon emissions. This effort is part of a larger goal to make clean cooking appliances more affordable and accessible, especially to low-income families, leveraging carbon financing to subsidize these costs.
Peter Scott, the CEO of BURN, highlighted the company’s achievements since 2014, emphasizing the transformative impact of their stoves on over 24 million lives. He expressed enthusiasm about expanding their reach to an additional 1.5 million people, contributing to significant carbon emission reductions. Scott also mentioned a previous $25 million financing from Key Carbon aimed at making cookstoves more affordable, aiming for a long-term goal of raising $1 billion in carbon financing.
Luke Leslie, Co-Founder and CEO of Key Carbon, and Peter Yu, Founder and Managing Partner of Cartesian, both expressed their support for BURN’s mission. They emphasized the potential of the voluntary carbon market [VCM] to drive climate action and support vulnerable communities, and they praised BURN’s role in improving health, quality of life, and environmental sustainability through their cookstove projects.