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Clean Cookstoves Heat Up at Climate Summit

4:47 PM on Jun 22, 2021

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Written by SCI United Nations Representative Peter A. Gallet

The US Administration convened 40 world leaders to the two-day Leaders’ Summit on Climate on April 22, 2021, and made very clear that the U.S. aims to take a global leadership role in climate change mitigation. This statement aligns with supportive comments made by a US official on June 3, 2021, at the High-Level Meeting on Clean and Safe Energy in Refugee Settings: Moving forward on the Clean Energy Challenge. SCI appreciates the high-level recognition that household cooking emissions are a serious environmental issue, and clean cooking was given serious respect as one part of a gamut of solutions for the overheating of the Earth we inhabit. Mr. Michael S. Regan, chief of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared the current administration’s position:  

"The U.S. government will work with the Clean Cooking Alliance, other country governments, and partners at every level of government to reduce emissions from home cooking and heating that contribute to climate change and directly affect the health and livelihoods of almost 40 percent of the world’s population."  

With zero emissions, solar cooking is, of course, the cleanest cooking on the planet,  and SCI takes part in its promotion under the umbrella of the Clean Cooking Alliance. Lest there be any doubt about the patronage of the project, an SCI phone conversation with a member of the EPA's Household Energy and Clean Indoor Air Department produced the information that the directive comes directly from the office of the Special Envoy for Climate — John Kerry — who reports directly to the President of these United States.  

The announcement was well-received by those in attendance. Said Dymphna van der Lans, CEO of the UN Clean Cooking Alliance, "We commend the U.S. government for reaffirming its global leadership on clean cooking.” So do we at SCI.  

This development fits in well with SCI’s overall global advocacy strategy to get more country governments to be aware of, and show their support for, solar cooking, as that opens up more pathways for increasing solar cooking worldwide. Thank you to everyone for your collective efforts and contributions to keep advancing this movement.   

Photo credit: Gu Bra (2021)