- Date
- 12th February 2025
- Categories
- Carbon Finance
By Dr Simon Batchelor OBE
Today (12/2/2025) saw the launch of a very encouraging and motivating press release from Klik and ATEC on behalf of Switzerland and Malawi. It announced a “purchase agreement on ATEC’s Article 6.2 eCook 100% data-auditable carbon project in Malawi”. That is a very ‘rich’ sentence, and in this article, I try to unpack what such an announcement means for energy access with respect to SDG7.
This is such an exciting integrated mitigation of carbon and climate change that it is difficult to know where to start?!
“100% data-auditable carbon project” ATEC’s work is well reported on the MECS website – they have developed an induction cooker with Internet of Things built in which enables data collection on its actual use. This can use the metered method that MECS researched and proposed that mitigates much of the over claiming found in past cookstove projects. While the MMECD was originally adopted by Gold Standard it has since been picked up by VERRA and more recently been the basis of the CLEAR method.
While the above refers to the use of MMECD in the voluntary carbon market, the announcement talks about a “Article 6.2 eCook 100% data-auditable carbon project” Article 6.2 is a government to government approved bilateral arrangement that agrees on Internationally Transferrable Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs). Established by the Paris Agreement and the UNFCCC processes, it ensures that carbon savings are accounted for carefully and the certified savings are internationally ‘transferable.’
As the Klik website says “The greenhouse gas mitigation activities supported by the KliK Foundation must be authorised by both Switzerland and the respective partner country. ITMOs are only issued for verified emission reductions that go beyond those to which the partner country has committed itself under the Paris agreement.” I will not try to explain too much more here; my colleagues have given some briefing notes here and here. It is perhaps worth noting that Switzerland has taken a lead in applying carbon tax to its industries, and in discussing and negotiating certified carbon finance as part of Article 6.
Recently MECS proposed how the MMECD could inform an Article 6.2 project, and it is likely that this is a basis for the ATEC/KliK agreement. As they say the project will be able to deliver “100% data-auditable” savings, it is most likely they are using a version of the MMECD.
The press release does not say how much the purchase agreement is for, but looking at the Klik track record on projects, it will likely be large scale. Such deals are looking for a scaled response, not a small project. We can combine our knowledge of the ATEC system, and use the BAR HAP tool of WHO to look at some of the potential impacts and the price point of wood and charcoal in Malawi (2017) to take an educated guess at what the project might deliver. But – the following is speculation not fact!
Let us discuss this in terms of what this might mean per tonne or more of carbon equivalent emission savings. This assumes households transitioning from wood or charcoal to a clean modern induction stove. This is likely to occur at the start mainly in urban areas, so let us assume that the majority are transitioning from charcoal. In Malawi, charcoal is a significant source of energy, with over 97% of households relying on illegally and unsustainably sourced biomass, including charcoal and firewood, for cooking and heating. Charcoal is primarily used in urban areas, with 54% of urban households utilizing it as their main fuel source.
One of the remaining uncertainties of the MMECD and the resulting MRV processes is the fraction of Non Renewable Biomass. Malawi is cited by the UNFCCC to continue to lose forest through to 2050 unless the situation changes significantly . For this speculation on what the deal might mean let us assume the deal has been made using UNFCCC proposed revised fNRB for Malawi of 55% for urban areas.
Electricity generation in Malawi is primarily from hydropower, with the country having a total installed capacity of approximately 398.39 megawatts (MW) as of 2023. So, the electricity sector is strongly renewable energy with minimal emissions.
ATEC are known for splitting the carbon revenue between mitigating the upfront cost of the appliance and passing as much as possible of the finance down to the consumer. Their cook to earn project in Bangladesh is one of our showcase case studies. Assuming they are getting a price similar to say, the current CORSIA spot price for carbon of ~US$20 a tonne , this suggests the following benefits.
Household savings – the induction stove, without any need or reference to carbon finance, but given the existing price of charcoal, will likely cut the average monthly cost of cooking fuel in half. Urban households saving half their monthly cost of $14, would mean the project will create savings of around USD $500 per household over the 6 years. That’s $500 not having to be used on cooking fuel and being used for other household expenses – going back into the wider economy.
Mitigated upfront cost – if ATEC follow through with the way their past projects have been implemented, the carbon finance will likely be used to pay the majority of the appliance cost. Assuming the appliance including its cookware is valued at the market rate for a high-quality electric induction stove of over USD$100 package, customer pricing post-offset will likely be offered to the user for 10-20% of the total cost, or $10-20 – making it affordable and an attractive proposition to low-income households.
Health and Time saving – assuming the induction stove fits the households cooking pattern (which it likely will), after initially fuel stacking the household will gradually transition to solely using the induction stove. While they will still experience ambient air pollution (from traffic and neighbours), according to BARHAP the transition to modern cooking, if we assume that it’s a large scale project as stated and at minimum reaches at least 50,000 households, that could avoid 70 DALYS/year* and 3.8m hours in time saved every year.
Deforestation – we are beginning to realise that the relationship between cooking and deforestation is not as straight forward as one might assume. However, if we take the current state of knowledge as captured in the BARHAP tool then if there were at least 50,000 stoves it could save 17,500 tonnes of (unsustainable) woody biomass every year.
Finally, ATEC is known for pioneering the ‘cook to earn’ model. Based on the statement of utilising the IoT to support value transfer, we assume there’s a good chance that they will seek to apply the cook to earn model as part of the project design as well. In addition to the significant charcoal savings, these additional payments for households will provide a key incentive driver to ensure behaviour change and a sustained transition to electric cooking.
Remember, this is an application of Article 6.2. That means that it is Switzerland that is effectively paying for this, with benefit then flowing to the people and government of Malawi for their highly impactful decarbonisation efforts.
This is a fantastic win, win, win, win – for Malawian households, for Malawi, for Switzerland and for the world.
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Featured Image copyright of ATEC, 2025.