Improved Cook Stoves for East Africa (ICSEA) PoA

Improved Cook Stoves for East Africa (ICSEA) Programme of Activities (PoA) was registered under the CDM (Ref: 7014) on 17 August 2012, and under Gold Standard (GS ID: 973) on 25 February 2014. ICSEA was the first ever multi-country PoA, covering Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and through a Post-Registration Change (PRC) was the first ever to add more countries: South Africa and Lesotho.The ICSEA PoA applies the CDM Sectoral Scope 3: Energy demand, AMS-II.G version 3, “Energy Efficiency Measures in Thermal Applications of Non Renewable Biomass", and was the first ever to add a second methodology (via a PRC) - Sectoral Scope 1: Fuel switch, AMS-I.E version 6, “Switch from Non-Renewable Biomass for Thermal Applications by the User".The purpose of this small-scale PoA is to stimulate the dissemination of improved cook stoves across East Africa and beyond by the provision of more affordable and quicker access to carbon finance. The ICSEA PoA does not buy or trade the carbon credits, but is an Africa-based carbon access facility for a very wide range of cook stove actors.ICSEA is open-access, meaning that many different stove suppliers, and many different models of stoves, can be included, using either firewood or charcoal as fuel, or renewable biomass. It is also being operated on a fair-trade basis, whereby the stove Supplier Organisations are required to state how the creators of the emission reductions (the women using the improved stoves) can receive significant benefits from the sale of these credits in the form of more affordable stoves, an annual stove maintenance service and a fair portion of the carbon income. This is an Africa-centric perspective on how the CDM PoA approach should be used to promote local sustainable development by focusing the benefits of carbon finance at the grassroots level, rather than creating windfall profits for carbon intermediaries and brokers.

Project ID

GS973

Registry

Gold Standard

Type

Cookstoves · Household & Community

Removal or reduction

Reduction

Methodology

AMS-II.G. Energy efficiency measures in thermal applications of non-renewable biomass

Developer

Uganda Carbon Bureau · 10 projects

Country

Uganda

First vintage

—

Crediting period

2012-08-17 to 2019-08-16

Scale

Small Scale · POA

Sustainable Development Goals

Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being · Goal 15: Life On Land · Goal 13: Climate Action

Data from

Berkeley VROD v2026-08 + Gold Standard registry

The registry gives Uganda as the location, so this project is not drawn on the map. It is counted in the country totals.