Improved Cookstove Programme in Laos receives Gold Standard recognition

The Improved Cookstove programme (ICS), implemented by SNV, Oxfam and ARMI, and funded by the European Union (EU) Switch Asia Programme, marked a milestone in the project recently after selling its 100,000th cookstove. And now there’s more to celebrate with the international organisation, Gold Standard, recognising the work of the project in and its future potential to reducing carbon emissions.

SNV is the second organisation in Laos to receive the recognition with ICS being the first cookstove project. This registration, adding to an increasing list of ICS’ achievements, will allow SNV with the support of Nexus for Development to sell carbon credits to individuals and organisations. The income from these carbon credits will then be put back into the project to ensure its sustainability and making it possible to continue to scale up access of this technology nation-wide.

ICS’s design guarantees fuel and time savings for its users. Each cookstove is designed to last at least 2 years in comparison to 6 months of traditional stoves in Laos. Households save fuel as the improved cookstoves are more efficient, requiring less fuel to cook the same meal. In addition to savings on income and time, one ICS saves 0.5 tonnes of CO2 a year, and thus far 35,000 tonnes have been reduced.

It is this reduction that earned the ICS programme the Gold Standard nod.

Gold Standard was set up in 2003 by a number of international non-governmental organisations to ensure projects deliver genuine emissions reductions and long-term sustainable development. Gold Standard is endorsed by over 80 NGOs around the world and the ICS programme is joining an ever-increasing list of certified projects.

Find out more about the ICS programme and check out our project documents.