Burn Efficient Cookstoves, Kenya

This project allows families in rural Kenya to cook food using cleaner, more efficient cookstoves. Communities typically use wood and charcoal to fuel open fires and inefficient cookstoves, creating indoor air pollution, releasing CO₂e emissions into the atmosphere, and putting pressure on local forests.

These Burn cookstoves are manufactured and distributed locally, employing more than 400 people – 60% of whom are women. Women and young children are the ones most often affected by cooking smoke, with nearly 5,000 children in Kenya dying every year as a result of infections caused by smoke.

Designed for efficiency, these cookstoves dramatically reduce toxic smoke exposure in the home, saving lives, cutting CO2e emissions, and reducing household expenses on fuel. Most families recover the initial cost of the stove within two to three months, with annual savings thereafter of up to $300.

Burn cookstoves are made at a state-of-the-art solar powered factory in Nairobi that offers equal employment opportunities to women.

Two-thirds of Kenya’s energy currently comes from burning wood. | IEA

Burn Efficient Cookstoves, Kenya

When Hildah first joined Burn, her family was in awe of how she could assemble all the parts that make a Burn jikokoa stove. To them, machinery work was a man’s job. Hildah has risen through the ranks at Burn and now leads a whole team making the stoves, which she proudly calls “Kenya’s #1 stove”.

Hildah's Story

In addition to delivering emissions reductions to take climate action (SDG 13), the project delivers additional benefits. The SDG contributions have been indicatively measured, and need to be confirmed:

Good Health and Well-being: Nearly 90% of customers report increased health due to reduced smoke in the home.
Decent Work and Economic Growth: The Burn cookstove team employs 400+ people in sales, manufacturing and distribution.
No Poverty: Burn stoves often save families up to $300 annually in reduced fuel consumption.