No smoke with this fire
"Save80 Stoves" for Lesotho
In Lesotho, a small, landlocked and mountainous country of in southern Africa, the people usually cook their food on open fires inside their huts. The smoke those fires produce pollutes the environment and homes – and it impairs people's health. The high-efficiency wood-burning Save80 stoves are the answer and they are being funded by DHL Group as part of its climate neutral GoGreen service.
Fewer greenhouse gas emissions
The more people who use these cookers, the fewer greenhouse gas emissions produced. The Group receives carbon credits based on the carbon savings generated by the project. These credits are then applied to our climate neutral services, an exclusive carbon offsetting offer for GoGreen customers.
"The first time we set up a stove for a demonstration in a village, people were skeptical," recalls Guido Sattler, who implemented the Lesotho project at DHL Group back in 2010. "They just couldn't believe that you could boil a pot of water using just a handful of kindling."
The reaction was hardly surprising. In Lesotho, families spend an average of ten hours a week collecting firewood.
"I'll never forget the change in attitude and expression of the people as they saw the stove in action," continues Sattler. "Before long, we had the entire village flocking to see what we were doing. We really caused quite a stir!"
Save80 stoves in Lesotho
Less wood, less smoke
DHL Group began distributing the first high-efficiency Save80 cookers to Lesotho's rural villagers in 2011. Designed for local needs, they come with a set of special pots and a thermal 'wonderbox' for continued cooking with retained heat. And true to their name, they use 80% less firewood than traditional cooking methods. "Less wood means less smoke – and a huge cut in carbon emissions," says Guido Sattler. "Switching to Save80 stoves lets the people of Lesotho keep with the old while embracing the new. This is the key to the project's success."
Working in partnership with the leading carbon offset provider atmosfair, DHL Group delivered some 10,000 stainless steel stoves to Lesotho villages between 2011 and 2013.
The ten-year project meets the highest environmental and social standards, fulfilling the criteria of both the United Nations’ Clean Development Mechanism and Gold Standard, the global benchmark for credit protection projects.
The Group has been using the carbon credits generated through the project for its climate neutral GoGreen services since 2013. Each stove saves approximately two tonnes of CO2 a year, allowing an annual offset of some 20,000 tonnes of CO2.