BS : Shell fights smoke with clean earthen oven : Oct 9, 2007

Shell fights smoke with clean earthen oven

BS Reporter / Bangalore October 09, 2007

UK-based Shell Group's charity arm aims to sell 10 million clean cooking
stoves in 5 countries in the next 5 yrs.

Shell Foundation, the charity arm of UK-based Shell Group, has joined hands
with Envirofit International, a leading environmental NGO in the US, to
fight indoor air pollution globally. Initially, the focus of the partnership
will be on India.

Indoor air pollution (IAP) is caused by smoke generated by traditional fires
and stoves used mostly in developing countries including India, according to
the foundation.

According to an estimate by the World Health Organisation (WHO), IAP affects
more than 50 per cent of the world's population and claims the lives of 1.5
million people a year worldwide.

India alone accounts for around 500,000 IAP-related deaths every year. WHO
estimates that pollution levels in rural Indian kitchens are 30 times higher
than the recommended levels.

According to the partnership, Envirofit will be tasked with handling the
scale-up and spin off of the Shell Foundation's Breathing Space programme,
which was founded to achieve global reductions in IAP.

This new partnership, which aims at investing $25 million over a five-year
period, is part of the foundation's mission to see 10 million clean cooking
stoves sold in five countries over the next five years.

The Shell Foundation is providing Envirofit with investment and
organisational support to form an independent global entity. In turn,
Envirofit will design, develop, market and distribute clean cooking stoves
that are engineered to emit significantly less toxic emissions and use less
fuel.

"With half the world's population still cooking on wood, dung and other
biomass burning stoves, the only way we are going to make a significant
long-term impact and achieve the scale needed is by getting the private
sector involved," Shell Foundation Director Kurt Hoffman said.

The Shell Foundation took up the issue of indoor air pollution in 2002, when
it started nine pilot projects in seven countries.

Hoffman said, "Without the valuable lessons learnt from these pilots, we
would not have been in a position to spin off the programme."

Publication : BS; Section : Social; Pg : 13; Date : 9/10/07
URL :
http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c.php?leftnm=10&autono=300666