For an estimated three billion people in the world, using traditional wood-burning cookstoves is a way of life. This method of cooking contributes to forest and land degradation and climate change, and causes serious respiratory health impacts. Cooking over an open-fire pit is estimated to be the equivalent of smoking two packs of cigarettes per day. These impacts fall disproportionately on women and girls, who gather the firewood and prepare the meals in many sub-Saharan African communities.
FivePoint is stepping up to make a positive difference. Working with on-the-ground partner C-Quest Capital, FivePoint is bringing 35,000 more efficient, clean-burning cookstoves to rural families in sub-Saharan Africa, most notably Zambia. Twenty thousand cookstoves have already been distributed and another 15,000 are planned for the future. The cookstoves are part of a larger commitment to sustainability by FivePoint within California and across the world.
The improved cookstoves provide a cleaner, healthier and safer environment for families and communities by:
- Improving maternal and child health by reducing exposure to toxic substances
- Freeing women and girls from the time-consuming and hazardous chore of collecting firewood
- Lowering greenhouse gas emissions by 60-80 percent
- Reducing demand for firewood