Transforming the lives of rural women and children through carbon financing, one cookstove at a time.
It is dinner time in Svay Leu district, a rural community around two hours away by car from Krong Siem Reap in northwestern Cambodia. Sophy throws a couple of large logs together, ignites them, and sets a pot atop the large orange flames billowing thick smoke. Almost immediately, her 2-year-old daughter starts coughing while her eyes start to itch.
This evening before bed, she will find herself coughing out black phlegm due to the inhalation of soot. She gives no further thought to this as it is a common symptom among her friends in the village.
Sophy’s story is not unusual among the rural women and children in Cambodia cooking using open fire. Due to the partial combustion of wood, the fire produces smoke with approximately 400 micrograms per cubic metre of toxic PM2.5 particles. At 20 times the World Health Organisation’s air pollution standards, this smoke is extremely detrimental to health. Every year, around 2.4 million people globally die from inhaling this black smoke.
Using less wood and cutting pollutants
C-Quest Capital (CQC), a social impact company, has made it our mission to improve women's and children's lives by distributing improved clean cookstoves (ICS) at zero cost to its users. ICS produces very little smoke and uses less wood to achieve greater cooking efficiency, so it helps our beneficiaries lead healthier and more economically productive lives.
CQC distributes its cookstoves for free to those who cannot afford this simple yet life-changing household device. The reduced use of wood enables our project to generate carbon credits. These credits are then sold to organisations, companies and governments that want to offset their emissions and demonstrate their commitment to environmental stewardship while supporting sustainable development and community empowerment.
Improved clean cookstoves distributed to households
This process, also known as carbon financing, allows us to fund our operations and expansions, propagate the social good we create, and provide returns to our investors financing these activities.
Our project in Cambodia aims to distribute at least 200,000 ICS to needy households. So far, more than 100,000 ICS have been delivered to more than 50,000 households. The project also meets eight United Nations Social Development Goals (SDGs), namely SDGs 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 13 and 15.
Improving quality of life and health
Social sustainability: As less wood is required to prepare a meal, women and children spend considerably less time collecting wood fuel for cooking. This reduces drudgery and presents alternative opportunities for improving their economic prosperity. Also, the amount of pollutants from burning biomass indoors is reduced. Less carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and particulates are emitted because of more complete combustion through our cookstoves. This helps improve the health of all family members, especially women and children who spend most of their time at home. Lastly, using cookstoves is a safer cooking method than open fire. This helps reduce the risk of burn injuries, especially for children at home.
Cookstoves being used: large strong flames with very small amount of wood
Economic sustainability: The implementation of our project creates local employment in operational and management roles. CQC manufactures the cookstoves locally, and so far, we have employed 55 artisans in rural Cambodia to make these clay cookstoves. A part of CQC’s earnings is also channelled through an independent fund CQC has established. The For Women Foundation (FWF) funds initiatives such as education, water boreholes and health clinics. These projects enhance our overall economic, social and health goals by reinvesting contributions from CQC’s buyers and investors.
We employ women artisans within Cambodia to produce these clay stoves.
Environmental sustainability: Since 2018, our cookstove project also helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly over its lifetime. The project helps cut the use of non-renewable biomass from forests, thus assisting in conserving existing forest stock and protecting natural forest ecosystems and wildlife habitats.
Time-savings enabling better economic outcomes
Our cookstoves have enabled women and children to enjoy better health and gain time savings. The reduced time spent on cooking and collecting firewood has allowed the communities to increase farming outputs, leading to greater economic prosperity. Meanwhile, CQC is exploring other ways of helping the communities supplement their farming income and monetise more of their spare time. Some initiatives under development in CQC’s pipeline include agroforestry and other nature-based solutions.
C-Quest Capital (CQC) is a world-leading carbon project developer whose purpose is to transform the lives of low-income rural families in developing countries whose health, well-being, and economic welfare are most at risk from climate change. CQC does this by providing access to clean energy technologies and sustainable land-use solutions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, combat global climate change, empower women, and improve the health of those in need.
