Shell encourages cleaner cooking stoves

The World Health Organization estimates that toxic fumes from open fires and traditional burning stoves - the main tool for heating and cooking in the developing world - cause 1.9 million premature deaths from respiratory diseases every year. They also create CO₂ emissions.

According to Shell, the internationally recognised most viable solution is to encourage cleaner cooking stoves, which require significantly less fuel and reduce emissions.

‘Indoor air pollution is one of the most significant energy poverty issues facing the developing world,’ said Peter Voser, chief executive of Shell. ‘With three billion people worldwide using open fires or traditional stoves in their homes, this initiative is a step forward in making a huge and tangible difference to their health and environment. So I would urge others to support this initiative – a clean-burning cooking stove for each home isn’t that much to ask.’

Shell’s donation supports the newly launched Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (GACC), a public-private initiative to support the large-scale use of clean burning domestic stoves in developing countries.