Creating greener households in Lao PDR through more efficient cook stoves

Transcription

1 IMPACT SHEET SWITCH-ASIA PROJECT IMPROVED COOK STOVE PROGRAMME LAO PDR Creating greener households in Lao PDR through more efficient cook stoves The project contributes to the reduction of tonnes CO2 through improved cook stoves (ICS) This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of GFA Consulting Group GmbH and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.

2 IMPACT SHEET SWITCH-Asia project Improved Cook Stove Programme LAO PDR The Challenge Most of Lao s low-income population, both in the rural and urban areas, depends primarily on wood and charcoal for their cooking and heating needs. According to a report in 2011, cooking fuel accounts for 70% of the nation s overall energy consumption. This high dependence on biomass resources degrades the local environment, requires considerable time for fuel collection, is costly, and creates indoor air pollution that harms people s health. In addition, the burning of coal and wood contributes considerably to the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission problem. The project Improved Cook Stove (ICS) Programme Lao PDR identifies a main bottleneck in ICS supply side while the demand side is showing a progressive trend. The project assists ICS producers to meet quality standards and ensure a stable supply. Objective The project Improved Cook Stove (ICS) Programme Lao PDR seeks to contribute towards poverty alleviation through the development of sustainable supply chain of cleaner and fuel efficient cook stoves. It aims to make ICS dominate 50% of the cook stove market share, and targets consumers in the five target provinces for a better awareness and access to purchase ICS, as an affordable and high quality alternative to the traditional cook stoves. The project aims at the following results: For 15 small- and medium-sized stove producers to produce ICS sustainably; 150 SME retailers to promote ICS; Lao Women s Union assumes its role as an effective promotional partner; Improved access to the clean and fuel efficient cook stove; Five testing agencies are operational; A national standard for stoves is endorsed; A multi-stakeholder partnership is established. TARGET GROUPS High-quality cook stove producers (15 producers with large market shares) Cook stove retailers (around 150 in five target provinces) Testing Agency / Provincial Department of Science and Technology Lao Women s Union with members Activities / Strategy The project facilitates improvements in the production of more efficient and cleaner cook stoves. It contributes to an increase in the ICS supply and demand through promotion of better design, production and distribution. Ensuring Quality of Products Through capacity building workshops, ICS producers are trained to meet certain quality standards in producing cleaner cook stoves. Not only is the efficiency improved, but the producers have a better product design to increase competitiveness against other less efficient cook stoves. Over the course of four years, 100 skilled and welltrained producers will be enabled to produce a sufficient quantity of cook stoves with low production costs and high quality production standards in order to meet rising market demand. In ensuring quality, the project works with Lao Department of Science and Technology (DST) to develop ICS quality standards and labelling. DST staff will receive handson training to assume a long-term role as the ICS testing agency, ensuring proper testing of the product for quality control and assurance, leading to certification of producers and labelling of the product for end-users/consumers. Creating Market Demand The project also works with retailers to deepen knowledge of the labelled ICS with a particular focus on improving their knowledge of the full range of benefits (cost, time savings, environmental) that will accrue to consumers. The knowledge is integrated with training and coaching on enhanced marketing skills along with promotional materials and equipment to help retailers meet established sales quotas. Consumer Promotion Campaign Encouraging consumers who are primarily women, the project engages the Lao Women s Union, a widespread organisation with a presence in all Lao villages, in an awareness campaign. It promotes economic as well as the social advantages of ICS. There is a dual focus of the campaign: 1) Business Promotion encouraging consumers to purchase labelled ICS by convincing them of its economic merits; and 2) Social Promotion explaining the benefits that will arise from time savings when cooking (a key point according to the women interviewed) and escaping the drudgery of collecting firewood and making charcoal. Social promotion will reinforce key gender equality messages and explain the environmental benefits of ICS.

3 Scaling-up Strategy Establishing Public/Private/Civic Partnership The project reaches out and brings together private, public as well as civic actors into a partnership: (i) governmental agencies provide support in social promotion and consumer outreach as well as in the implementation of national quality standards; (ii) civil society organisations provide technical and managerial support; while (iii) private sectors (producers and retailers) serve as key drivers of ICS production and supply chain. In addition, links are being developed with financial institutions to provide credit for producers to increase ICS production. Engaging with Policymakers Partnering with the Lao Women s Union (LWU), a mass organisation under broad government auspices with a nationwide presence, provides an opportunity to promote and enhance gender equality issues since the social benefits (time and labour savings) will accrue disproportionately to women who remain the primary consumers of ICS. Engaging with the Ministry of Science and Technology at both national and provincial levels is designed to have a demonstrable policy impact by helping develop and ensure enforcement of ICS quality assurance. It is expected that this will, over time, result in the endorsement of protocols for cook stove labelling and testing as well as national quality standards for ICS fuel efficiency. We consider the Improved Cook Stoves project to be very challenging, not only due to our ambitious goal of producing stoves within four years, but also to raise awareness and encourage people to care about climate change. Since the very beginning we worked to involve the Lao Women s Union and the Department of Science and Technology and have since been rewarded by incredible ownership they now have over the project. The producers and retailers have shown a similar commitment in promoting this simple, but effective method to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The users have quickly become more and more confident in the efficiency of the stove and, through word of mouth, are flocking to the retailers that can t keep up with the demand! After one year we feel we have the expertise and experience to improve even more. We believe that Improved Cook Stoves will be recognised and accepted in society and become part of every household in Laos! Amphone Souvannalath Project manager, NORMAI Linking to Financial Institutions Based on interactions with ACLEDA, the largest retail bank in Cambodia that also operates in Lao and has a significant loan portfolio to SMEs, the project strengthens producers capacity to develop medium to long-term business plans that can improve producers credit eligibility. The project also collaborates with banks and financial institutions to stimulate loan packages for producers. An overview of the most common stoves sold in Lao PDR Name Tao Payat Tao Dam Tao Cement Improved Cook Stove Efficiency 32% 28% 24% 39%

4 Results Cook Stove Optimal Model Determined Detailed testing of selected design models (production process and dimension checking, thermal shock test, strength test) will be undertaken to optimise product quality and determine ideal ICS dimensions. Corrective measures will be taken for any quality control (QC) or quality assurance (QA) issues that arise as a result of monitoring. Once the optimal model has been determined, specific protocols are intended to define parameters for production monitoring (schedule of monitoring visits, number of ICS to be controlled, etc.). NORMAI will have a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with each producer confirming agreement on adherence to QC and QA protocols. Promotion of cook stoves with ICS label Producers Capacity Improved A standardised training curriculum that draws on lessons learnt and materials used in the successful scale up of the EU-funded fuel wood savings programme in Cambodia, but adapted to the Lao context, will be established. Materials will focus on both the practical and theoretical aspects of cook stove production so that producers can better understand the implications of choosing and preparing raw materials and the impact of varying production techniques and tools. Training will focus on stove production and will be rolled out to small groups of producers on an ongoing basis with the initial training having an anticipated duration of two weeks. Follow on training, once production start-up has taken place, will focus on QC/QA aspects of production. Production constraints will be regularly assessed and refresher training on production skills will be systematically conducted or corrective measures recommended, roughly every three months during the initial two years of the project. Before, we used one bag of charcoal and two bags of wood per month. Now we need only one bag of charcoal, which saves us Kip (about EUR 5). The ICS keeps the temperature longer, so I only need to put in charcoal one time. When using the old stove I had to add more coal continuously. Also, the ICS only smokes in the beginning when you light the coal, but the old stove always smoked. With this new stove, the water boils very fast which saves me charcoal. Therefore, I recommended this ICS to all my neighbours. Ms. Bouaphan ICS user in Vientiane Capital ICS Supply Chain Established To date the main bottleneck of the cook stoves value chain is on the supply side, while the demand-side is showing a progressive trend. Production-time related labour and low quality of the product are identified as main limiting factors. In response to this challenge, the project aims at promoting faster production methods that can increase manufacture by 50% and improve the quality of the cook stove production. Through a concerted technical capacity development conducted by NORMAI, 15 SME stove producers will have credible business plans, access to credit and collectively the producers will be able to produce a total of at least ICS that comply to the specified quality standards. ICS production in Savannakhet

5 IMPACT SHEET SWITCH-Asia project Improved Cook Stove Programme LAO PDR Impact in Numbers Economic Impact Environmental Impact Social Impact Climate Benefits CO 2 Green Finance Money saved by Lao households in 2013: EUR 2 savings/month x 6 months x ICS = EUR Turnover at retail level: ICS x EUR 4.5 = EUR Stove producers have business plans in place, increase their position with access to finance adding up to better prospects. The project has increased production speed and productivity by introducing moulds and better kiln management. Improved efficiency of wood and charcoal stoves for domestic cooking reduces pressure on the environment for biomass sources. Before households used 1.14 kg charcoal per day, after ICS introduction they use 0.81 kg per day (net savings of 29%). Contributed to communities livelihood. Cooking with ICS reduces the duration of meal preparation, so women have more opportunities to engage in other livelihood activities, as well as reduces family spending on fuel wood and charcoal. Reduction of GHG emissions approximately 1 tonne of CO2-eq per year. Reduction of fuels that relate to GHG emissions is estimated to be tonnes CO2-eq for the period of stoves producers have benefitted from access to green finance, 6 loans have been approved with a value of EUR 900 each. With support of the project, ACLEDA has agreed to offer loans to stove producers. Target Group Engagement Policy Development Europe-Asia Cooperation asia SMEs engaged in project activities includes 15 producers and 150 retailers through capacity building by on the spot coaching, group training, multi stakeholder meetings, exchange visits with Cambodia and peer exchanges. 10 additional stakeholders involved including government bodies, such as Lao Women s Union, Ministry of Energy and Mines, Ministry of Science and Technology, Inter-ministerial Taskforce on Cook Stoves. A producer association was established to agree on price, quality and promotion. Five articles in Vientiane Times and Lao newspaper were published; 14 stove demonstrations were held at festivals and markets. Actively participated in the interministerial taskforce for cook stoves and advocated the development of cook stove sector. Proposed cook stove design as Lao standard (in development) and established stove laboratories allowing the validation of standards. Organised one European-Asian event and an EU-Asia study tour in During 2013, participated in the Nexus member meeting in Singapore, the ADB bioenergy project meeting in Hanoi, the WB inter-ministerial taskforce meetings in Vientiane. SNV Asia internal meeting on renewable energy in Bangkok, SNV/ADB/Endev biogas workshop in Hanoi, and the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (GACC) regional testing and knowledge development project (an exchange with GERES Cambodia). SCP knowledge transferred included an exchange of progress reports to GACC, peer review stove testing reports from Aprovecho, Nexus and GERES.

6 Laos Vientiane Khamouane Champassak Savannakhet Legend Eligible countries for the SWITCH-Asia Programme Non-eligible Asian countries for the SWITCH-Asia Programme Project implementation area City Region Country The boundaries shown on this map do not imply on the part of the European Union any judgment on the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. OBJECTIVES PROJECT CONTACT The overall objective is to contribute towards poverty alleviation in Lao PDR through the development of a sustainable consumption and production chain of fuel efficient Improved Cook Stoves (ICS) which will reduce the use of wood and charcoal and lower greenhouse gas emissions. DURATION PROJECT TOTAL BUDGET EUR (EU contribution: 89.79%) 02/ / Antonino Faibene 98/8 Sithong Rd, Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR Antonino.Faibene@oxfamnovib.nl Telephone: PARTNERS Oxfam Novib SNV-Netherlands Development Organisation NORMAI Published in October This publication is printed on 100% recycled paper using an eco-friendly process. Photo source: Improved Cook Stoves project