Secretary Clinton Launches Global Pollution Reduction Initiative, Notes Important Role of Clean Cooking Solutions

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton today announced the formation of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, a global effort to fight climate change, protect health, improve agricultural productivity, and strengthen energy security by reducing short-lived pollutants such as methane, soot, black carbon, and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) – some of which are the byproduct of the nearly three billion people burning solid fuels to cook each day. Combined, short-lived pollutants are responsible for over one-third of current global warming.

Secretary Clinton pointed to the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves as an initiative that would be further strengthened by the formation of the coalition. The Alliance was launched in 2010 with a mission to save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women, and combat climate change by creating a thriving global market for clean cookstoves and fuels – an effort well underway through the release of the major sector roadmap, Igniting Change: A Strategy for Universal Adoption of Clean Cookstoves and Fuels, and the Alliance’s own strategic business plan.

“[Short-lived pollutants] wreak havoc on people’s health. Millions die annually from constantly breathing in black carbon soot that comes from cookstoves in their own homes,” said Secretary Clinton. Of the 16 short-lived pollution reduction recommendations put forth by the UN Environment Programme – a founding Alliance partner and the secretariat for the new coalition – the Secretary specifically noted the benefit of replacing inefficient cookstoves and traditional brick kilns with cleaner, more efficient devices.

Peter Kent, the Canadian environment minister, later formally announced his country’s $1.7 million partnership with the Alliance.

Secretary Clinton was joined by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, the executive director of UNEP, and the environmental ministers from Bangladesh and Canada – all Alliance partners – as well as the Mexican and Swedish environmental ministers and the Ghanaian Ambassador to the U.S.

“The Alliance is grateful to Secretary Clinton for her consistent leadership toward creating a better world for all people, and welcomes the formation and mission of the coalition because climate change-inducing cookstove smoke permeates many other facets of human life – including energy access, air quality and the surrounding environment, food security, and general health and well-being,” said Radha Muthiah, Executive Director of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. “I am very pleased to officially welcome Canada, and commend them and our other government and UN partners for joining the coalition and further solidifying their commitments to saving lives, improving livelihoods, empowering women, and reducing global climate change through concerted actions that include clean cookstove and fuel interventions.”

Read about the Climate and Clean Air Coalition by clicking here.

Read about Canada’s commitment to the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves by clicking here.

 

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About the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves:
The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves is an innovative public-private partnership led by the United Nations Foundation to save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women, and combat climate change by creating a thriving global market for clean and efficient household cooking solutions. The Alliance’s 100 by ‘20 goal calls for 100 million households to adopt clean and efficient cookstoves and fuels by 2020. The Alliance is working with its public, private, and non-profit partners to help overcome the market barriers that currently impede the production, deployment and use of clean cookstoves in developing countries. Visit www.cleancookstoves.orgfor more information.