JOINT ESMAP/Ci-Dev | Quantifying and Measuring Climate, Health and Gender Co-Benefits from Clean Cooking Interventions: Methodologies Review | August 6, 2020

PRESENTATION | RECORDING

Achieving universal access to clean cooking is a key target of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7, which aims to “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all.” However, progress has been slow. According to the 2020 Tracking SDG7 The Energy Progress Report, 2.8 billion people still lack access to clean cooking fuels and technologies, jeopardizing the achievement of SDG 7 and progress across several related SDGs.

To accelerate access to clean cooking, innovative ways for scaling up investment is needed. The World Bank has used results-based financing (RBF) widely in the health and climate impact sector. Borrowing from this experience, the World Bank works to support approaches in which impact-driven funds could be deployed to pay for verified climate, health, and gender impacts from clean cooking interventions. If such funds could be unlocked, they could serve as an innovative way to: (i) attract other funds that target public good benefits for climate, health, and gender; (ii) develop the market for clean cooking by catalyzing private investment, innovation, and risk taking; and (iii) over time, mainstream approaches to quantify the benefits of clean cooking into clean cooking fund operations, national policies and budgetary allocations. This type of RBF approach can build on recent progress in developing methodologies to measure health, gender, and expanded climate (black carbon) benefits.

Under this context, ESMAP and Carbon Initiative for Development (CI-DEV) jointly initiated a field study on Quantifying and Measuring Climate, Health, and Gender Co-Benefits from Clean Cooking Interventions. The Methodologies Review report is the first output of this ongoing study.  A discussion on the key findings and the next steps was held virtually.

Contact: Yabei Zhang