Hundreds of thousands of people in emerging economies are set to benefit from a new initiative to provide households with clean cook stoves. Bank of America has announced it is partnering with the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves to raise $100 million for such stoves.

Almost half the world’s population cook in their homes using open fires and simple stoves burning wood, animal dung, crop waste or coal. The World Health Organization estimates that as result, close to 4 million people die prematurely from household air pollution every year. The use of unsustainably harvested wood to fuel inefficient cook stoves is also one of the main drivers of deforestation, which is responsible for around 20 of global greenhouse gas emissions.

At the UN Climate Summit in New York in September, Bank of America committed to catalyze at least $10 billion of capital toward overall investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency and energy access.

The Secretariat of the UN Climate Convention is also celebrating initiatives to protect human health and reduce emissions with the help of clean cook stoves via its Momentum for Change initiative.

One example celebrated by Momentum for Change is the Low Smoke Stoves Project in Sudan. The project provides a financing scheme to reduce emissions by replacing traditional wood and charcoal stoves with energy-efficient liquefied petroleum gas cook stoves.

Beneficiary of cook stove project in Sudan

Image: Rod Waddington, Flickr