NEW Report – Clean Cooking: Results-Based Financing as a Potential Scale-up Tool for the Sector

The research partnership between Energy 4 Impact and the Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) programme continues with the launch of the fourth report in our joint Financing Clean Cooking series. The report Clean Cooking: Results-Based Financing as a Potential Scale-up Tool for the Sector evaluates past and ongoing Results-Based Financing (RBF) programmes in order to identify the key success factors for using RBF as a tool for scaling up modern energy cooking solutions.

With over 2.4 billion people still reliant on firewood and charcoal for cooking, more action is needed to scale up access to modern energy cooking solutions. Innovative financing models can help to bridge this gap through accelerated investment and market development. RBF for clean and modern energy solutions has become an important funding tool for the sector over the last decade. Research indicates that designing flexible programmes that match local market conditions and ensuring a level of maturity in the markets selected for the targeted technologies are both critical for the successful rollout of modern energy cooking RBF programmes. The report further explores opportunities to maximise impact through linking energy access and clean cooking RBF programmes more closely and scaling up further investment by tapping into carbon financing.

This report is part of the Financing Clean Cooking series, which aims to generate more investment in clean cooking in sub-Saharan Africa by identifying strategies to expand the adoption of modern energy cooking solutions. The research into key trends, such as the business models of cookstove companies, investor types, pathways to technology scale-up and barriers to capital raising, provides a springboard for recommendations that can inform the actions of a diverse range of public and private stakeholders, particularly NGOs in sustainable development, clean energy donors and investors, and suppliers operating in the improved cookstove sector. The reports call upon donors in particular to make pivotal interventions in order to help scale up investment and thereby stimulate market growth in the clean cooking sector.

Previous publications in the series include:

• Clean Cooking: Scaling Up with Crowdfunding
• Clean Cooking: Financing Appliances for End Users
• Clean Cooking: Structuring Concessions for Displaced People

The final report of the series will focus on the financing landscape for clean cooking and is set to be published in the fourth quarter of 2021.