Events
Clean Cooking Knowledge Exchange Workshop | October 10, 2022
The ESMAP team hosted a Clean Cooking Knowledge Exchange Workshop, as a pre-forum side event to the 2022 Clean Cooking Forum in Accra, Ghana from October 11-13. The workshop was well attended, including country delegations (government representatives/project implementing agencies) from Bangladesh, Kenya, Rwanda, Ghana, Niger, Mozambique, Uganda, and Somalia/Somaliland, World Bank technical teams, and representatives from donors (The Netherlands, Norway, and Denmark) and development partners (The Energy Nexus Network, WHO, SEforALL, the Clean Cooking Alliance, Loughborough University/MECS program). The workshop presented the country context, design, and implementation status of WB-financed projects and shared the challenges, experiences, and lessons learned for project design and implementation. This exchange was highly appreciated by participants where they networked and exchanged knowledge. As a next step to this exchange, ESMAP will facilitate the formation of a network of practitioners, particularly among PIUs, to have follow-up exchanges, building on the newly launched LinkedIn Clean Cooking Community of Practice.
State of the Evidence Base Conference (Pre-forum event) | October 10, 2022
The ESMAP team, composed of Nathyeli Acuna, Gender Energy Specialist and Zijun Li, Energy Specialist, attended the Evidence Base on Clean Cooking Workshop on October 10. ESMAP Energy Specialist, Zijun Li presented the preliminary findings of the clean cooking co-benefit field study co-funded by ESMAP and Ci-Dev. One of the key findings of the study are the synergies in applying different co-benefit methodologies to measure climate, health, and gender impacts of clean cooking interventions, which is expected to pave the way to simplify the field measurement process and reduce the monitoring and verification cost. ESMAP Gender Energy Specialist, Nathyeli Acuna presented the key findings of the World Bank’s newly launched report on Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps: Advancing Gender-Equal Benefits in Clean Cooking Operations. The analytical work focused on the importance of time poverty, improving methodologies to capture better results, and how to incorporate the gender equality dimension within clean cooking interventions. The session concluded that there is a long path to improve the quality of data and information showing how clean cooking interventions result in better use of time for productive uses for women.
2022 Clean Cooking Forum | October 11-13, 2022
ESMAP Manager, Gabriela Elizondo-Azuela, via video and Sameer Shukla, Advisor, ESMAP, delivered keynote speeches at the Opening and Closing Plenaries, respectively. The Forum highlights including pictures from the Clean Cooking Alliance can be found here.
During the Clean Cooking Forum, ESMAP launched the second module of the clean cooking e-course The Hidden Side of Energy Access 2.0: Applying a Gender Lens to Clean Cooking, a joint learning product developed by the Clean Cooking Fund, in close collaboration with the Gender Global Practice of the World Bank. This module aims to deepen key learnings from the introductory course and to highlight gender, a core aspect of the clean cooking sector, in a more focused way. Watch the official release of the e-course.
Additionally, the World Bank and ESMAP delegation presented at the following sessions:
- Biomass Cooking: Evolution and Scale on the Road to Universal Access
Energy Specialist, SAR, Tanuja Bhattacharjee was a panelist in this session. Panelists discussed the crucial place of biomass tools and fuel in the clean cooking sector and the evolving business models that are driving adoption of clean biomass solutions and shed light on what initiative, innovation and investment can reach scalable clean biomass solution on the road to universal access. The discussion touched on several points: (i) engagement of local players is crucial in ensuring scalability and sustainability of improved biomass cooking solution; (ii) multi-tier framework should be considered for referring the tier and designing initiative for scalability; (iii) monitoring, verification and reporting is critical; (iv) result-based financing so far brought good results and will become more relevant in the context of leveraging carbon finance; and (v) carbon finance can unlock the potential and help overcome the market barrier, but local regulatory capacity needs to be strengthened to mitigate the risk of market distortion and streamline various programs. WATCH the session
- The Art and Science of Clean Cooking Policy Innovation
Senior Energy Specialist, ESMAP, Yabei Zhang, was a panelist in the session. Ms. Zhang discussed the implementation of ambitious, locally owned clean cooking agendas will ultimately require the development of effective policies and strategies that put these ambitions into action by supporting and incentivizing clean cooking innovation and investment. And that to be successful, national governments must incorporate high quality data and technical expertise, ensure that policy and strategy development processes are inclusive of both public and private sector stakeholders, and have buy-in at national and sub-national levels. While each country context is unique, there is much that can be learned from the successful development of innovative policies and strategies across contexts. The Bank highlighted key tools and datasets such as the Clean Cooking Planning Tool, MTF, and RISE which have been used in developing clean cooking policies and plans. Such policies and plans can then be used to mobilize financing needed for implementation, as shown in an example from Rwanda with World Bank financing. WATCH the session
- Friend or Foe – the Role of End-user Subsidies in Developing Clean Cooking Markets
Senior Energy Specialist, ESMAP, Juliet Pumpuni was a speaker in this session which was structured in a debate setting. Common opinions on the role of end-user subsidies for Tier 4 stoves and fuels is often divided into two camps: those who view end-user subsidies, especially freely distributed stoves, as inappropriate tools that risk reducing willingness to pay and distorting market structures; and those that see end-user subsidies as necessary tool to ensure that socially beneficial solutions like clean cooking are accessible at the last mile and affordable for those at the base of the pyramid. The main conclusion was that hundreds of millions of people will continue using polluting fuels for generations without subsidies. Therefore, targeted subsidies should be put in place with local data being fully utilized to set the prices. At the session, EnDev announced the preparation of an End-User Subsidy Lab in Malawi, Uganda, Niger, and Liberia to introduce demand side subsidies for clean cooking products, which is underway in close collaboration with ESMAP. WATCH the session
- Perspectives on Innovation: Finance at Scale
Opening remarks were provided by ESMAP’s Senior Energy Specialist, Yabei Zhang. The World Bank estimated that to achieve universal access to clean cooking by 2030, an annual investment of $25 billion is required that includes public sector investment to bridge the affordability gap and private sector downstream infrastructure investment. The current lack of investment is due to the market failure that the public benefits such as climate, gender, and health from access to clean cooking are not fully internalized by the end users and the suppliers. The recent surge of carbon price in the voluntary carbon market provides an unprecedented opportunity for the sector and the cooking sector has indeed attracted more financing. On the other hand, the sector should be aware that such opportunities do not come without risks. We have already seen some companies fully rely on carbon revenues and distribute cookstoves for free. Without proper coordination and targeting, such an approach will distort the market by taking away consumer choices and wiping out local producers. The Bank highlighted this risk and the importance for the government to support the long-term market development for sustainability by better regulating and leveraging the carbon market. WATCH the session
- Clean Cooking Alliance: Market-Oriented Approach to Accelerate Clean Cooking in Francophone Countries
Marina Brutinel and Gina Fleurantin, Energy Consultants, ESMAP presented the Multi-Tier Framework (MTF) at the session. A key takeaway was that publicly available tools and resources that support decision-making and programming such as the MTF and Clean Cooking Planning Tool are not well-known within the sector and would benefit from more dissemination to inform all potential users. To reach a wider audience in Francophone countries, it would be beneficial to translate the key knowledge products into French moving forward.
- Ghana Day (Post-Forum) | October 14, the post-Forum “Ghana Day”
This session was organized and hosted by the Ghana Alliance for Clean Cooking (GHACCO) in partnership with the Government of Ghana (GoG). The event was aimed at maximizing the gains of hosting the Forum to sustain and enhance country-level efforts towards achieving national clean cooking access targets and goals. The event was attended by about 200 local and foreign participants, including: H.E Hajia Samira Bawumia, Second Lady of Ghana; Hon. Andrew Kofi Egyapa Mercer, Dep. Minister of Energy; Ing. Oscar Amonoo-Neizer – Executive Secretary, Energy Commission; CCA representatives; World Bank delegation led by Sameer Shukla, Advisor, ESMAP. The upcoming Bank-financed National Clean Cooking Strategy and Investment Prospectus is a major step for the GoG to demonstrate its commitment in achieving universal access to clean cooking. The GoG has also completed the development of regulations to enforce the implementation of an upcoming improved biomass cookstove standards and labeling system. Clean cooking has also been featured in Ghana’s Energy Transition Plan. Moreover, Ghana’s NDC has updated the target for clean cooking: from 2 million to 3 million Improved Cookstoves. The Ghana Day showcased the growing interest and appetite from both the government and private sector actors to leverage Ghana’s electricity generation capacity to promote and expand clean cooking access.
OFFICIAL CLEAN COOKING FORUM PROGRAM
Contact: Yabei Zhang (esmap@worldbank.org)