PCIA Side Event at COP 15

The fifteenth United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP15) in Copenhagen is largely focused on negotiating an international framework for addressing climate change after the current phase of the Kyoto Protocol, which ends in 2012. COP15 is attended by thousands of country delegates and a wide range of observers from NGOs that are negotiating approaches to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Among many others, two topics that have figured prominently in official meetings and side events are potential cobenefits from climate mitigation projects, and fast-action mitigation measures with short-lived forcers such as black carbon. Clean and efficient cookstoves are an example of a technology that can reduce carbon dioxide and methane emissions while providing social and health cobenefits through reduced fuel consumption and reduced indoor air pollution. Improved cookstoves also have the potential to significantly reduce black carbon emissions. Several side events at COP15 highlighted the potential for emission reductions and cobenefits from cleaner cookstoves, including the US Environmental Protection Agency sponsored event on December 9, 2009 by PCIA, titled Cleaner Cook Stoves for Developing Countries: Improving Health, Reducing Climate Change.

Participants learned about the connection between household solid fuel use and health and climate change. A panel of environment and health experts presented research showing how cooking is contributing to global warming through CO2 and black carbon emissions, and how improved cook stoves, with limited assistance from the carbon offset markets, are helping to mitigate emissions. Panelists highlighted efforts to commercialize the dissemination of efficient stoves (more than 800,000 in 2008), measure the impact on emissions, and provide guidance to certify carbon offsets for global markets.