Clean cookstove manufacturer BURN Manufacturing has announced it will issue a $10 million green bond to finance expanded production capacity and reach an additional 2 million households with safer, cleaner cooking solutions by 2024.
The bond marks the first time a company has leveraged green bond financing specifically for clean cooking, representing a major milestone for the sector.
BURN aims to address the detrimental health and environmental impacts of traditional open-fire cooking in Africa, which leads to nearly 500,000 premature deaths annually from toxic smoke exposure. Women and children face the greatest risks.
The company plans to use the bond proceeds to increase existing manufacturing in Kenya from 400,000 units monthly to 600,000 across a range of efficient biomass, electric and LPG stoves. BURN also will launch its first manufacturing facility in Lagos, Nigeria.
“Our decision to issue the first green bond to support clean cooking underscores our strong belief in the power of financial innovation to drive positive environmental and social change,” said Peter Scott, founder and CEO of BURN.
Independent testing has consistently shown BURN’s stoves provide substantial health, financial and climate benefits, Scott said. The green bond will extend those impacts by reaching 2 million more households transitioning away from traditional cooking fires to cleaner alternatives.
The pioneering bond issuance was supported by placement agent DRY Associated Limited. Development agency FSD Africa provided technical input on the bond framework and second-party opinion conducted by credit rating agency Agusto & Co.
“We are proud to have supported this landmark issuance, the first green bond to finance clean cooking activities in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Evans Osano, FSD Africa’s director of capital markets. “The proceeds will support households across Africa to transition to more sustainable cooking alternatives that also have dramatic health benefits.”
The International Energy Agency estimates 130 million people globally must transition annually from dirty cooking fuels to achieve universal clean cooking access by 2030. The BURN green bond provides an important new financing avenue to accelerate this shift, experts said.
