What boosts cookstove uptake?

The document identifies and assesses behaviour change techniques (BCTs) for improved cookstove (ICS) adoption, noting a shift from financial incentives toward 'shaping knowledge' and 'social support'. It highlights the importance of tailoring messages to gender and local contexts and proposes a modified framework that integrates individual, social, structural, and locational determinants of behaviour.

• Financial incentives, including subsidies and credit for low-income communities, are consistently reported as core drivers for the sustained adoption of improved cookstoves, particularly in poorer rural areas using foraged fuelwood or charcoal.
• The most consistently applied behaviour change approaches are reward and threat, shaping knowledge, and social support, though they are often used together, making it difficult to isolate the impact of a single strategy.
• There is a documented shift in behaviour change techniques since 2013, moving from a primary focus on rewards (fuel, technology, and financial aspects) toward 'shaping knowledge' and 'social support' approaches.
• Gender-targeted messaging and empowerment have significant potential; for example, an entrepreneurial program providing empowerment training saw ICS sales double, with women outselling men by nearly three to one.
• Grey literature from Bangladesh, Kenya, and Uganda reveals a wider diversity of techniques than academic literature, including co-design of stoves with users, door-to-door visits, and innovative media campaigns like radio dramas and bulk texts.
• The review identifies a major gap in existing literature regarding regulatory frameworks and the structural determinants of behaviour change, such as political, legal, and institutional conditions.

APA

Matin, N., & Roe, J. (2016). What boosts cookstove uptake? Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/sei-2016-discussionbrief-whatboostscookstoveuptake.pdf

Chicago

Matin, Nilufar, and Jenny Roe. What boosts cookstove uptake? Stockholm Environment Institute, 2016. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/sei-2016-discussionbrief-whatboostscookstoveuptake.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Matin |first1=Nilufar |last2=Roe |first2=Jenny |title=What boosts cookstove uptake? |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=2016 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/sei-2016-discussionbrief-whatboostscookstoveuptake.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{matin2016what, author = {Matin, Nilufar and Roe, Jenny}, title = {{What boosts cookstove uptake?}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2016}, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/sei-2016-discussionbrief-whatboostscookstoveuptake.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }