Clean Cooking Loan Fund Wants To Loan You Money, But You Must Apply By May 1

Clean cookstoves save lives and forests. They’re also increasingly being paid for by carbon finance, but carbon projects with their own up-front costs. Now the Clean Cooking Loan Fund wants to lower the barrier to entry by financing the certification costs of cookstove projects using carbon finance. The deadline is May 1. Here’s who qualifies and how to apply.

10 April 2014 | The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves distributed 8.2 million cookstoves in 2012, and 4.1 million of them were at least partly paid for with carbon finance, according to a report that Ecosystem Marketplace prepared for the Alliance last year.

To keep that momentum going, the Alliance has teamed up with the Gold Standard Foundation and Nexus Carbon For Development, which is a cooperative of different aid organizations, to provide a vehicle for loaning money for early-stage carbon projects that distribute clean cookstoves. The funds are earmarked to cover certification costs only.

“The Fund is designed to take on financial risk associated with the carbon process by offering a loan to project developers,” said Marion Verles, executive director of Nexus. “It will not purchase emission-reductions, but these will be used as collateral to the loan.”

Clean cookstove projects often want for funding between the 1-2 years of registering their project and getting their first carbon credit revenues.

Money will be distributed through the Clean Cooking Loan Fund, which is a not-for-profit loan created by the Alliance, Gold Standard, and Nexus, which is acting as fund manager.

What Activities Will be Covered?

The CCLF’s call guide says the program is designed to cover general certification costs, “including, but not limited to, screening costs, validation, registration, verification and issuance fees, any costs related to studies establishing baselines or designing monitoring systems.” It also identifies specific stakeholder inclusion activities that will be covered for Gold Standard projects.

It further explicitly excludes marketing costs, carbon transaction costs, and general operating costs except for those stakeholder inclusion activities that were explicitly included.

How to Apply

Applications can be made online by clicking here, and eligibility requirements can be found in the call guide.

Further questions can be addressed to the Nexus Secretariat at [email protected], but but only until noon Singapore time on Monday, April 14. For best results, write “CCLF ENQUIRY” in the subject header.