Saraki, Others to Raise $500m Fund for Clean Global Cookstoves Project

Dr. Bukola Saraki

Hammed Shittu in Ilorin.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, Dr. Bukola Saraki has joined former US Secretary of States, Hillary Clinton in raising about $500million, comprising $286m in grants, $127m in investments and several millions in guarantees for the global clean cooking sector during the Cookstoves Future Summit’s inaugural commitment roundtable last weekend.

The aim of the fund raising according to a statement by Saraki’s media aide, Bamikole Omisore, was meant to  accelerate market-based clean cooking solutions through targeted investment entrepreneur support, and capacity building to transform the way the world cooks.
The statement explained that the summit laid emphasis on continuous elevation of global awareness of the issue of household air pollution, the benefits of clean cookstoves and fuels, mark the transition from Phase 1 to Phase 2 of the Alliance's strategic road map, and mobilise $500m in grant and financial resources for the sector for the period 2015-2017.

“The summit convened more than 400 stakeholders from around the world to reflect on the strong progress made in Phase 1 and the key areas of intervention and focus as the Alliance and its partners go to scale in Phase 2.

“Over 70 commitment makers came to support the sector during Phase 2, covering several areas including: humanitarian, policy and advocacy, fuels, standards and testing, capitalisation and guarantees, enterprise capacity building and innovation, health research, environment and climate research, awareness and behavioral change, affordability and access, as well as monitoring and evaluation.”
Saraki was quoted to have said at a press briefing during the summit that though the issue has started pulling traction because of its high social, environmental and economic returns, a lot however still needs to be done; given the intensity of Household Air Pollution (HAP) in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.

“The Senator stated that in Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya alone, the Global Alliance’s 2013 report stated that 219 million people are affected by household air pollution (HAP), which causes at least 111,100 deaths each year in these countries. This number is undoubtedly higher across the African continent. Inefficient and dangerous cooking causes deforestation and contributes to 21per cent of global black carbon emissions. The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves is working tirelessly to bring this issue to the forefront of debate, and mobilizing resources to achieve 100 by 2020 goal into action.

“Nonetheless, Senator Saraki believes that many African nations continue to face similar challenges in overcoming the barriers that currently impede the proliferation of clean cookstoves and fuels across the continent. He therefore suggested a Pan-African Strategy through the development of a regional solution that can rapidly scale up the provision of clean cookstoves and fuels across the African continent.

Senator Saraki therefore called on African Leaders to devote the necessary political energy and resources to developing a Pan-African Clean Cookstoves Strategy that is specific to our peculiarities with a view to stopping deaths from cookstoves smoke, halt deforestation, decelerate black carbon emissions and improve access to modern cooking energy”.

THISDAY