So much to discuss about cookstove projects linked to carbon finance, and why it is important to buy carbon credits from projects that have a local and in-country focus to everything they do in their activities.
When we talk about local impact, we refer to money that circulates locally, therefore wealth is distributed more equally.
At Simoshi, we have designed our Gold Standard registered Project Activity to help Ugandan schools move away from traditional cooking practices, by designing a system of governance that is responsive to the schools’ needs, that can deliver high sustainable development outcomes to all those communities involved around the school activities, and that can increase job generation by locally outsourcing all the products and services needed to run the carbon project, whenever available.
For example, the institutional improved cook stoves (IICS) are locally manufactured by Uganda Stove Manufacturers Limited (Ugastove). The IT Kenga infrastructure used for all monitoring, reporting and verification activities is designed by the local software developer OmniTech. All carbon asset development, accounting, financial, and legal services are provided by Ugandan companies run by Ugandan professionals.
It is Simoshi’s pride to state that all taxes are paid locally as we are a company 100% fully registered in Uganda, with no other subsidiaries abroad, a company that supports domestic revenue generation. This approach in the carbon financing sector is generally lacking in developing countries, and we believe such assessment of a carbon credits’ local impact should also be included under the high integrity carbon categorisation.
It is still not clear how the majority of carbon project developers, intermediaries, and rating agencies are currently disclosing and/or assessing the flow and the impact of those revenues accrued from the sale of the carbon credits and how these are reflected in the local economies. We believe this is a subject that needs attention and discussions as we continue to pursue towards a more transparent sector.
