Market Based Approach

The Alliance has identified the creation of a thriving global market for clean cookstoves and fuels as the most viable way to achieve universal adoption. This market-based approach was further developed and validated in Igniting Change: A Strategy for Universal Adoption of Clean Cookstoves and Fuels, the first strategy to transform the sector based on the input of over 350 leading global experts and practitioners.

Enhance Demand:

understanding and motivating potential users, developing better and more technology, and providing consumer finance...

 

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Strengthen Supply:

attracting more finance and investment, accessing carbon finance, enhancing market intelligence, and creating inclusive value-chains...

 

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Foster An Enabling Environment:

engaging national and local stakeholders, championing the sector and raising awareness, and building the evidence base for the benefits of clean cooking solutions...

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The Alliance Priority Countries

Through Igniting Change and the Alliance’s strategic business plan we have prioritized a range of activities on the global level to strengthen markets, including: attracting social investment, making it easier and cheaper for cookstove enterprises to access carbon finance and driving technological innovation.

In parallel, we are targeting our resources at the regional and country level following a data-driven approach that considered potential impact, scalability, opportunity to test innovative business models, leveraging other resources, and greatest need.

In September 2012 the Alliance prioritized six countries for immediate engagement during Phase I of our business plan (2012-14):

  • Bangladesh
  • China
  • Ghana
  • Kenya
  • Nigeria
  • Uganda

Here, the Alliance will work with all stakeholders to deliver a wide range of market enabling activities – collecting and publishing market information, working with governments to create favorable regulatory and policy environments, and enhancing the clean cooking value-chain through capacity building and improved access to finance.

The Alliance will continue national stakeholder consultations in the following countries by prioritizing 1-2 targeted interventions that will help overcome market barriers and take the market to the next level:

  • Cambodia
  • Ethiopia
  • Guatemala
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Mexico
  • Nepal
  • Peru
  • Rwanda
  • Tanzania
  • Vietnam

Market Assessments

As part of its commitment to create a thriving global market for clean cookstoves and fuels, the Alliance commissioned assessments of the cookstove and fuel markets in 16 countries. These assessments are intended to provide a high level snapshot of the sector in these countries that can then be used in conjunction with research papers, consumer surveys and other sources to enhance sector knowledge and help the Alliance decide which countries and regions to prioritize.

Draft Market Assessments – and all supporting documents – are now available, in order to provide a ‘one-stop-shop’ of information for existing organizations and potential new market entrants. Draft Market Assessments have been conducted in the following countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, East Timor, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Vietnam.


Strengthening Markets

Throughout the developing world the private sector, donors, governments and non-governmental organizations offer the four billion people who live at the 'Base-of-the-Pyramid'——a wide range of products and services. To-date there has been mixed success

The sale and adoption of goods such as clean cookstoves and solar lanterns have proved particularly challenging due to a wide range of factors, including:

  • affordability
  • diverse consumer needs and desires (rarely does ‘one-size-fit-all’)
  • the difficulty of supplying bulky products to remote or poorly served regions
  • and the fact that they are usually ‘push’ products – ones that require a significant amount of consumer convincing to drive purchase - as opposed to relatively easy to sell ‘pull’ products like mobile phones.

The Alliance is currently going through a process to create a robust market approach that takes account of these multiple challenges. We recognize that to drive clean cookstove and fuel adoption at scale a holistic approach is required, where multiple barriers along the value-chain are tackled simultaneously, not piecemeal. Any approach however, must focus on certain strategic elements, activities, geographies and customer and producer needs.