Assessing the Climate Impacts of Cookstove Projects: Issues in Emissions Accounting

The paper assesses the technical parameters used to calculate emission reductions for improved cookstoves, specifically focusing on biomass fuel consumption, the fraction of non-renewable biomass, and emission factors. It identifies significant uncertainties in current Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Gold Standard methodologies, noting that reliance on laboratory tests like the Water Boiling Test often fails to reflect real-world performance. The authors argue that current accounting may under-credit projects by ignoring non-CO2 gases and black carbon, and by using fossil fuel emission factors as surrogates for biomass. The document recommends incorporating uncertainty accounting, refining monitoring through data loggers, and developing more localized, sub-national assessments for non-renewable biomass.

• The quantification of emission reductions in cookstove projects is subject to significant uncertainty, with the fraction of non-renewable biomass (fNRB) contributing the most at 47%, followed by fuel consumption (By) at 28% and emission factors (EFprojected_fossilfuel) at 25%.
• The Water Boiling Test (WBT), frequently used by project developers because it is cheaper and easier to implement, is criticized for failing to reflect actual household cooking behavior and real-life stove performance.
• The Kitchen Performance Test (KPT) is considered the most robust method for determining actual fuel savings as it measures real usage in households, although it involves higher costs and complexity than laboratory tests.
• Current CDM default factors for the fraction of non-renewable biomass (fNRB) may overstate emissions reductions, as they often imply that over 80% of biomass use is non-renewable across most assessed countries, which may not reflect localized conditions.
• The use of fossil fuel emission factors as surrogates for biomass combustion in CDM methodologies is criticized for lacking a scientific basis and potentially reducing claimed Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) by approximately 30%.
• The exclusion of non-CO2 greenhouse gases, such as methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), and short-lived climate forcers like black carbon, may lead to a significant underestimation of the climate benefits of improved cookstoves.
• Black carbon from traditional bioenergy use in households in Asia and Africa is projected to account for nearly half of all global black carbon emissions by 2030.
• Monitoring the continued use of traditional stoves remains a challenge; the authors suggest that integrating data loggers (such as temperature sensors) with KPT could provide more accurate usage data.

APA

Lee, C. M., Chandler, C., Lazarus, M., & Johnson, F. X. (2013). Assessing the Climate Impacts of Cookstove Projects: Issues in Emissions Accounting. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/sei-wp-2013-01-cookstoves-carbon-markets.pdf

Chicago

Lee, Carrie M., Chelsea Chandler, Michael Lazarus, and Francis X. Johnson. Assessing the Climate Impacts of Cookstove Projects: Issues in Emissions Accounting. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2013. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/sei-wp-2013-01-cookstoves-carbon-markets.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Lee |first1=Carrie M. |last2=Chandler |first2=Chelsea |last3=Lazarus |first3=Michael |last4=Johnson |first4=Francis X. |title=Assessing the Climate Impacts of Cookstove Projects: Issues in Emissions Accounting |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=January 2013 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/sei-wp-2013-01-cookstoves-carbon-markets.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{lee2013assessing, author = {Lee, Carrie M. and Chandler, Chelsea and Lazarus, Michael and Johnson, Francis X.}, title = {{Assessing the Climate Impacts of Cookstove Projects: Issues in Emissions Accounting}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2013}, month = jan, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/sei-wp-2013-01-cookstoves-carbon-markets.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }