Calculating Black Carbon Emission reductions from transitions to Modern Energy Cooking

By Malcolm Bricknell and Professor Matt Leach (Modern Energy Cooking Services)

Black carbon (BC) is a critical short-lived climate pollutant (SLCP) with wide-ranging, damaging effects. It contributes significantly to global warming, snow and ice melt, changed weather patterns, health problems from air pollution, and a multitude of secondary effects related to these impacts. Reducing black carbon emissions is critically important for fast climate mitigation and building resilience to the effects of climate change. While black carbon is an extremely short-lived climate forcer with an estimated lifetime of just 1-2 weeks, black carbon emission reductions have most of their impact over the coming 25 years and are complementary to essential deep decarbonisation. BC reductions offer a practical, fast way to avoid crossing irreversible climate tipping points, improve air quality, and enhance resilience. Immediate action on black carbon will yield multiple positive impacts and contribute to longer-term climate mitigation.

New research commissioned by MECS from Berkeley Air Monitoring Group and Orbis Air shows how BC and organic carbon (OC) reductions from clean cooking projects can be calculated cost-effectively and then used to estimate near-term climate impacts. Organic carbon is often generated alongside black carbon and is a short-lived climate coolant, and the method adjusts for the balance of emissions. This quantification, in turn, can facilitate donors to provide funds to support clean cooking projects in achieving their positive climate and other developmental impacts. The overall impacts are calculated as the near term cooling effect, in terms of temperature change. A further blog discusses the choice of this metric rather than putting the effect into CO2 equivalent.

The proposed methodology has been designed as an add-on to the Gold Standard’s (GS) Methodology for Metered & Measured Energy Cooking Devices (MMMECD), developed by Climate Impact Partners and MECS. It efficiently leverages the digitally generated data that projects already need to produce to meet the requirements of the existing methodology. Energy consumption is first determined from metering the fuel consumption of project technologies. The relative energy ratios of the project and baseline technologies then determine the amounts of baseline fuels displaced. Application of field-based BC and OC emission factors are then used to compute emissions for both scenarios. Reductions in BC and OC are determined by subtracting project emissions from baseline emissions. These reductions are converted into impacts using modeling that quantifies the net near-term climate impact by aggregating BC and OC effects. Two well-recognised models were employed for this purpose, the Fast Scenario Screening Tool (FASST) and the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS-Chem) adjoint models.

Other research included a systematic literature review to identify and synthesize field-based BC and OC emission factors, ensuring that the proposed methodology reflects field conditions rather than laboratory assumptions. Research also included testing and evaluating a range of metrics for climate impacts, and co-benefits, selecting those that provide scientifically accurate but also market-relevant outcomes. Equations and procedures for integrating the BC/OC add-on with the existing MMMECD were developed to ensure compatibility and ease of use. The work has prioritised taking conservative assumptions throughout, so the results align with high integrity objectives for cooking project impacts.

Case studies were conducted to demonstrate the practical application of the methodology using data from induction cookstove projects in Bangladesh and Ghana provided by ATEC and BURN, giving early insights into its effectiveness in project contexts. The project team also completed an initial round of consultations with technical experts and potential end-users to gather feedback on the proposed approach, metrics, and calculations.

The team communicated frequently with the developers of the FASST and GEOS-Chem adjoint models and were notably grateful to Dr Daven Henze and the team at FASST for providing modelling support for the impact estimates.

Further work in implementing the new methodology is intended. Future phases of the project will include securing approval for an initial version of the methodology by submitting it to Gold Standard, supporting early adopters to develop the market, and further work with the scientific community to refine the impact modelling. In the longer term, there may be an opportunity to develop the tool from this initial application for clean cooking out to other important sources of BC.

The recent work has already provided a valuable tool for calculating BC emission reductions from clean energy projects that can incentivize projects to achieve these impacts (as well as a range of other highly positive developmental impacts). The approach also shows how digital MRV reporting platforms in Modern Energy Cooking projects offer opportunities for much more insightful and cost-effective calculations across a range of developmental impacts.

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Featured Image in this blog is AI created using ChatGPT.