Home Uncategorized BURN Secures $15M to Expand Clean Cooking Access in East Africa

BURN Secures $15M to Expand Clean Cooking Access in East Africa

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BURN, a global leader in clean cooking, has secured a US$15 million ( Ksh 2.1 billion) investment from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

This investment, announced during the World Bank/IMF (The International Monetary Fund) Annual Meetings in Washington, will fuel BURN’s efforts to distribute 1 million Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled ECOA electric cooking appliances in East Africa.

The ECOA (Electric Cooking, Optimized and Affordable Induction Cooker) Induction Cooker (IDC) features innovative Pay As You Cook (PAYC) technology, integrated with mobile money and the ECOA Mobile App. This allows users to make small, regular payments via their phones to gradually own their cooking devices within a year.

The ECOA IDC comes with a high-quality, locally manufactured stainless steel cookware set. Leveraging IoT technology, the ECOA IDC generates high-integrity carbon credits by monitoring energy usage in real-time.

Each unit reduces approximately 2.5 tonnes of carbon emissions annually, aligning with the EIB’s climate action, gender equality, and economic development goals.

EIB Group President, Nadia Calviño emphasized the investment’s potential to strengthen communities, particularly by improving women’s health and reducing carbon emissions. She highlighted its alignment with the European Union’s Global Gateway Initiative.

“The investment that we have agreed today is about financing development through innovation which will strengthen communities, especially by protecting the health of women, and their families. It will have a positive impact on the climate as well by lowering carbon emissions. Investments in potentially transformative projects like this expansion of affordable clean cooking for more than a million households in Africa by BURN is just the kind of initiative that the European Union aims to support more of under our Global Gateway Initiative.”

BURN Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Peter Scott stated that the EIB investment will accelerate the transition of over a million low-income households from traditional charcoal stoves to clean electric cooking. This shift will enable them to utilize grids primarily powered by renewable energy.

“BURN has already brought our unique PAYC electric cooking solution to thousands of households in Kenya and Tanzania that were previously relying on traditional charcoal stoves.   This investment by EIB will help us transition over a million low-income households to cooking with electricity, allowing them to cook on grids that are 80-95% powered by renewable energy.”

A peer-reviewed Randomized Control Trial (RCT) by the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Chicago independently verified the efficiency, safety, and benefits of BURN’s clean cooking appliances.

The study, published in the American Economic Review (AER), found significant fuel savings, cost reductions, and CO2 emission reductions for families using BURN’s cookstoves.

To date, BURN has distributed over 5 million clean cookstoves in Africa, impacting over 25 million lives and preventing 26 million tons of CO2 emissions.

Founded in 2011, BURN stated it is committed to revolutionizing the clean cooking sector and providing sustainable solutions across Africa. The company operates in 9 countries and employs over 3,500 people.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union. It finances sound investments to support EU policy goals. EIB Global, the EIB Group’s specialized arm, aims to increase the impact of international partnerships and development finance. It focuses on gender equality and women’s economic empowerment, with a significant portion of its investments contributing to both climate action and gender equality.

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