Summit on black carbon and other emissions from residential coal heating stoves and combined cooking and heating stoves

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While many governments, especially in OECD nations, have a long history of addressing dirty wood heating stoves, much less information exists about coal heating stoves, or stoves that combine both heating and cooking functions. To design effective mitigation options, the scope and use of these two stove categories needs far greater understanding than exists today. More recent knowledge of the climate impacts of black carbon, and studies pointing to dangerous health impacts from the black and organic carbon released with wood and coal smoke, only sharpen the need to address this source.

Coal and wood stoves are likely to be used for cooking and heating in places close to the Arctic, Himalayas, Andes or other snow and ice (cryosphere) regions, where the black carbon emissions will have a greater regional climate impact.

The Stoves Summit aimed to address this gap, identifying what we know about:

  • The extent of the use of these stoves globally
  • Usage patterns (such as for heating or combined heating and cooking; and/or lighting, pest control and other household needs)
  • Health impacts, including household and ambient air quality impacts
  • Climate impacts
  • Mitigation options and/or barriers to mitigation, such as fuel switching, more efficient usage, and stove change-out subsidies
Challenges

Many households around the world burn solid fuel for heat. This includes the use of woodstoves (primarily in OECD nations), coal stoves (primarily in Eastern Europe and some parts of Asia), and other solid fuel-burning stoves which are used for both cooking and heating in developing countries.

Recent assessments that have concluded that reducing short-lived climate pollutant emissions from solid fuel stoves would have substantial climate and health co-benefits, have not addressed the special case of stoves used for combined cooking and heating. There is also a lack of information on emissions from coal stoves used for heating, despite the coal stove sector being named as significant short-lived climate pollutant control measure by UN Environment and the WMO.

Heatstoves and combined heating and cooking stoves have the same health impacts as cooking-only stoves, but likely have a greater per-unit climate impact since they tend to be used near glaciated or snow-covered mountain regions, where deposited black carbon greatly magnifies the climate impact. They also present a special challenge, as stoves that effectively concentrate heat for efficient cooking could lose their ability to heat a house by eliminating “wasted” ambient heat.


Objectives

The “Stoves Summit” synthesized the evidence base concerning combined heating and cooking stoves and coal heatstoves through the sharing of experiences and lessons learned between the solid fuel cookstove and heatstove communities and raising awareness about the issues and potential solutions among a diverse set of stakeholders.

The meeting highlighted the extent of use of solid fuel stoves and coal heating stoves in different parts of the world; their impacts on health, the climate, and the cryosphere; and potential solutions for mitigating their emissions and harmful effects.


Event outcomes

Key challenges and needs discussed at the Summit were highlighted in a meeting synthesis report, which can serve as the basis for scaled up action on coal stoves and combined use stoves, through both the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, the Clean Cooking Alliance as well as through broader-scale action among donors and multilateral development banks.

Find presentations and other documents from the Summit on the event webiste.


Related documents

Tags
Regions
Europe
Pollutants (SLCPs)
Black carbon
Themes
Household Energy