Covid-19 Economic Relief Fund

We have started the new year with the right foot and great news. Simoshi was successfully selected in a competitive process to participate in the Covid-19 economic relief fund.

Energising Development (ENDEV) is a global multi-donor partnership (implemented by the Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit GIZ) that facilitates access to modern energy in more than 25 countries. In Uganda, Endev has provided the COVID 19 Economic Relief Fund for the cooking energy and off-grid solar sector in order to support firms to cope with the hardships related to the pandemic. Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) was selected by ENDEV to manage such fund.

In the next three months, SImoshi will be assissting 18 Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) primary schools by changing all of their traditional cooking devices to institutional improved cook stoves (IICS). These schools will also benefit from free IICS annual maintenance for five years as a result of Simoshi’s Clean Development Mechanism and the Gold Standard Project Activity “Institutional Improved Cook Stoves for Schools and Institutions in Uganda”.

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The pictures above are from this week, setting off from our office as our Project Officers continue to work in the field sensitising school staff and parents about the benefits of using an improved cook stove. The second and third pictures belong to the KCCA Munyonyo Church of Uganda Primary school, a beneficiary of such grant. The kitchen was assessed and saucepans measured as the new IICS are getting ready for manufacturing.

Achieving Long-Lasting Climate Progress

In the face of global warming, it never became more important to consider that an intervention will have to generate sustained value in the years to come. The implementation of climate action and sustainable development in an integrated manner presents an opportunity for businesses to maximise the benefits achieved at all levels. Corporate climate strategies need to generate and capture value, while benefiting society and the planet.

Project developers must also improve in the quality of generated carbon credits to become a valid climate solution, measuring CO2 reductions that deliver environmental and social co-benefits that are monitored and accounted for throughout time, and not just a one off activity that is verified during an auditing exercise.

As we enter into a new era in the race of climate neutrality, lets not forget that carbon credits are not all created equal. “While companies might be tempted to create a portfolio of carbon credits that encompasses their target CO2e volume while minimising costs, they need to ensure their investment is channeled towards projects that deliver long-lasting quality results and have no diverse impact. While in general, the price of a carbon credit and its quality are not correlated, there is evidence that prices of carbon credits from the land sector and many technology development projects are too low to deliver long-lasting quality results”.

Hopefully as we transition to a post Paris era, the market will start seeing more higher quality projects being portrayed at the UNFCCC Climate Neutral Now platform, such as ours with the schools in Uganda. Already the Gold Standard has an interesting variety of carbon credits on sale with sustainable development contributions that significantly boost market credibility.

We Can Always Improve

As part of our commitment to the schools to provide the best products and services, we meet with our provider and manufacturer of institutional improved cook stoves (IICS) Uganda Stove Manufacturers Limited (Ugastove) every two months. Yesterday was one of those meetings at the Ugastove factory, where both Simoshi and Ugastove teams met, to discuss the feedback collected from the school staff and cooks on the IICS performance.

It is mandatory for Simoshi to quarterly survey each IICS installed under its Project Activity. As such, since 2016 we have been meticulously collecting and analyzing the filed data, while also ensuring we can always make positive changes to improve the IICS performance. This is also achieved as we are are always learning from the cooks on how the product can become more user friendly.

Yesterday our discussions were all about chimney connectors. After having IICS being in use for four years, day and night, these small but important pieces play an important role when ensuring the smoke from the firewood combustion is conducted outside through the chimney pipe. We have seen some connectors rusting, others corroding, some removable caps missing as soot is being cleaned, and these are some of the topics discussed as we endeavor to improve our product.

What Are Schools Doing on Climate Change?

I recently came across an article written by Adam Vaughan for the New Scientist, on the activities schools in the UK are getting involved in to reduce their impact on climate change. The example given is rural school King’s Academy Ringmer, in south-east England, which is now saving around 350 tonnes of CO2 annually with a biomass boiler, while also cutting its energy costs by thousands of pounds a year by installing solar panels, a wind turbine and heat pumps that extract heat from the ground. Of course such installations are costly, and usually schools have many burning priorities that need prior attention. Some UK schools between 2011 and 2016 took advantage of government support to fit solar panels, although such capital-intensive projects are not for every school.

I could not resist but making the comparison with what schools are currently doing in Uganda in their efforts to reduce carbon emissions with their cooking activities. An average school of 700 hundred children reduces 90 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually as they move away from using traditional 3-stone fires to institutional improved cook stoves to prepare the school meals. As deforestation is positively impacted, the school enjoys the financial benefit with an average USD 1,000 saved annually from firewood not purchased. The positive impact is greatly enjoyed by the school that desperately needs the saved money for other resources. What makes it even more attractive, is that such investment to purchase the institutional improved cook stoves costs the school approximately USD 1,500 without any government or grant support. But through Simoshi’s intervention, we are able to provide financing during a 15-month period, to allow the school to comfortably pay back for the appliances using the money saved from the firewood NOT purchased.

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Restrictions Are On

It has been a month since schools reopened for candidate classes in all of Uganda. With many restrictions in place and sign posts everywhere, children are strictly following the Minsitry of Health’s Standard Operational Procedures. Teachers are grateful as children are managing to keep their face masks on all day long. Nevertheless, keeping social distance is becoming a challenge when break time is on.

The kitchens are also busy as lunch is still being provided. We are of course happy that at least we are seeing movement again in the classrooms, even if it is just a few classes. This current term will be expended until the 18th of December, to somehow catch up for the lost time. And holidays will be shorter, with all classes resuming on the 11th of January 2021. That is the update from our continuous visits to monitor the kitchen environment, the cooks and the stoves. Pole pole (slowly slowly) we will get there.

Second Verification Started

The future of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) after 2020 is still uncertain, and the carbon markets are a bundle of unknowns. Nevertheless many carbon standards, governments, international agencies etc remain ambitious to ensure the markets will continue to grow and contribute significantly to the Paris climate goals.

It is in that spirit that we have decided to embark on our second verification exercise, closing a monitoring period of 10 months from the 1st of June 2019 and until 31st March 2020, when schools shut their doors as they went into lockdown due to COVID-19 measures.

The Monitoring Report has been uploaded and made public today, and the verification exercise has officially commenced, with 4K Earth Science as the Designated Operational Entity (DOE) in charge of verifying our operations and report of the Project Activity “Institutional Improved Cook Stoves for Schools and Institutions in Uganda”.

Checking On the Kitchens as Schools Re-Open

Throughout this past week we have been visiting all 70 participating schools under Simoshi’s Project Activity “Institutional Improved Cook Stoves for Schools and Institutions in Uganda”. We are making sure the institutional improved cook stoves (IICS) are in good conditions to start preparing the children’s daily meals.

Although schools have been closed for the past 7 months, many school kitchens were still operational and specially the IICS of smaller capacities were used daily to prepare the food for the school staff that reside within the premises.

We faced some bad surprises, as some IICS users were not the usual school cooks, they have not been trained on how to take care of their stoves, and the hygiene conditions were not what you would desire to find. So we had to get dirty, clean soot, collect mountains of ash and and scrap food stuck from inside the IICS. In some cases, have them repaired and re-plastered as the firewood logs had been using were too big a big and had damaged the combustion chambers.

It's Back To School Now

A happy post finally, the great news we were waiting for the past 6 months. During the latest address on Covid-19, President Museveni announced candidate classes will resume on October 15, while international schools will be also allowed to start as long as the latest Standard Operational Procedures are followed and clearance is given by the Ministry of Health.

As such, we have been busy with calls from several schools who are looking into changing their traditional cooing practices, while others were refurbishing their kitchen building during lock down to make way to their new institutional improved cook stoves (IICS), like at St. James Biina Primary School. We are sharing some pictures of the installation of their new IICS done last week, together with their former stove construction and kitchen.

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Promoting Improved Cook Stoves Does Not Stop

Under the World Bank’s Distribution Challenge Fund (DCF), Simoshi has received financial support to further intensify its marketing and promotional activities of household improved cook stoves within the districts of Kampala and Wakiso.

Although Uganda is still under some lock down measures because of COVID-19, including the closure of airport, schools, churches and curfew hours, we had to reinvent and re-adjust some of our field operations to make sure we continue raising awareness on the benefits of using an improved cook stove within Ugandan households.

With the DCF support, we purchased a three wheeler bike, as we have decided to travel further distances into rural areas to ensure we can reach an audience that is usually unattended - because all the difficulties related to longer distances, complicated access and poor roads, etc. We have recently offloaded 500 dual fuel household improved cook stoves in our office in Kajjansi, and are hopeful that no new lockdown measures will be announced tomorrow as the nation prepares itself for the President’s national address.

The Energy Access Industry Barometer Now

Energising Development (EnDev), the energy access partnership currently financed by six donor countries - the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, United Kingdom, Switzerland and Sweden - says energy access is at crisis. That comes as no surprise to many….. They led a global survey of the off-grid energy industry to date representing feedback from more than 600 companies across 44 countries which provide energy access through mini-grids, clean cooking solutions, household solar products, and appliances.

As 85% companies fear for their survival beyond a period of more than five months, many jobs are already lost, and remaining ones at risk. This situation is more evident especially with smaller companies and distributors. “The crisis has reached a critical stage for most of the companies, with severe impacts on employment and ultimately on livelihoods. 35% of companies have already laid off 30% of their staff; additional staff will be laid off in the next few months if no immediate support is available” the report claims.

For us here at Simoshi. with schools still currently closed, many of our activities have become dormant. Others, such as our second verification exercise planned to take place in December 2020, had to be cancelled. Nevertheless, we have continued with the marketing and sale of our carbon credits, because this is done on-line, and because thankfully many stakeholders had continued to voluntarily offset their carbon footprint. This has allowed us to divert some of our programmes as we await for a “normalisation” of school attendance.

Carbon Footprint Calculator To Help Consumers

An innovative footprint calculator has been launched to help consumers, manufacturers and brands alike understand the climate impact of consumer goods. The Swedish Fin-Tech Doconomy has developed this tool as they join efforts with the UN Climate Change partnership to increase awareness among stakeholders of the climate impact of our actions.

To complete a product carbon footprint calculation, the user has to have production data available including the total weight of the product as well as the weight and material of each product part (or piece of packaging material), the location of each material supplier, the location of the manufacturing facility (and type of energy used) and the location of the final distribution center, including the modes of transport between them.

We have used calculator to understand the climate impact the Ugastove household dual fuel improved cook stove has during its manufacturing process. This gave a total of 8.32 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions as a carbon footprint for each household improved cook stove that is manufactured in Kampala. The good news, is that when a Ugandan household replaces a traditional cook stove appliance with this Ugastove dual fuel improved cook stove for their daily cooking activities, and average of 2,700 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions are saved per year, because of the energy efficiency combustion capability.

The calculator is also linked to the UN Carbon Offset Platform, enabling the application users to take immediate climate action by contributing to green projects that are vetted by the United Nations and that work towards achieving the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Sustainable Development co-Benefits Report

The sustainable development tool enables companies like Simoshi to showcase the sustainable development benefits of its project activity “Institutional Improved Cook Stoves for Schools and Institutions in Uganda”. The report is now available on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) website and describes in detail the positive impact it has on improving indoor air quality, on natural resources, access to energy, and the extent of the social and economic benefits it brings to those enjoying the benefits of the institutional improved cook stoves.

The Benefits To Others When Offsetting

Carbon financing is a simple concept, although people generally find it confusing. But it is not. A carbon credit is equivalent to one ton of carbon dioxide not emitted into the atmosphere. It is the simple equation of offsetting your carbon footprint by purchasing a reduction of carbon dioxide implemented by a project in a developing country.

There is a great variety of projects currently reducing greenhouse gas emissions around the world. But not all operate under the same circumstances or deliver the same benefits. When you buy a carbon credit, you are supporting a project to further implement and sustain all the activities and benefits attached to such implementation, creating sustainable development benefits for the communities involved. As a buyer, aim high when choosing your offsets, considering long-term environmental and social impact, beyond the carbon-development benefit. Purchasing high quality carbon credits means investing in the transition to zero carbon while supporting the most vulnerable communities such projects operate with.

Third National Address By First Lady on Schools' Situation

All schools have been closed in Uganda since 18 of March. Since then, the Ministry of Education and Sports put a plan in place that focuses on three main areas:
1. Continuity of learning during the closure of Institutions of Learning.
2. Preparedness for re-opening of institutions of learning when it is safe to do so.
3. Ensuring effective teaching and learning upon re-opening of the Institutions of Learning

His Excellency, the President directed that a Cabinet Sub-Committee be constituted to look into the issue of re-opening of Institutions of Learning. This Committee had representation from the other Ministries such as Health, Local Government, ICT and National Guidance, Science, Innovation and Technology. The Committee also consulted with the Technical Team of Scientists that is advising government on its response to this pandemic. After taking into consideration all the views, they resolved that the time was not yet right to have learners go back to their Institutions of Learning – not even for candidate classes as they had earlier thought. Therefore schools will remain closed throughout the month of July.

Last night the Minister of Education and Sports gave an update on the progress to date. What happens next in preparation for re-opening of schools and institutions? The Ministry of Education and Sports has received Sector-specific Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) from the Ministry of Health to guide the Ministry in determining its Sector’s readiness to re-open Institutions of Learning. The Ministry shall review these SOPs and advise Cabinet in due course.

Inspire Change

During these difficult times of COVID19 and physical distancing, we can still work with passionate readers and supporters of climate change to help spread the word why it is important to support practical and inclusive climate solutions.

Al Gore has been an inspiration to us ever since we first watched the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth”. Directed by David Guggenheim in 2006, it educated us on global warming, while winning two Academy Awards. He successfully managed to get the message across of an idea and concept he had been pursuing for a very long time. It is always inspiring to keep watching over and over, it reminds us that we are also contributing to this worldwide massive community pushing for a greener planet.

Remember, with climate change, change happens over generations, making it harder to see or believe what problems are ahead of us. Scientists and environmentalists like Al Gore have been sounding the alarm for decades now. Whether we can now see it for ourselves, and for those who still don’t believe on it, we join the movement of those raising awareness around the world, educating the big and the small, learning ourselves more because climate change is a risk not to ignore.

link to trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu6SE5TYrCM

First 1,000 Carbon Credits Sold

Today we reached a big milestone as Simoshi’s first 1,000 Gold Standard Certified Emission Reductions, equivalent to 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide not released into the atmosphere, have been sold through the United Nations Climate Neutral Now portal. We are extremely grateful to those 74 buyers who voluntarily decided to offset their carbon footprint by choosing our carbon credits generated from our Project Activity “Institutional Improved Cook Stoves for Schools and Institutions in Uganda”.

Special mention needs to be highlighted as all of these buyers made a conscious choice to purchase our emission reductions that are more expensive than other carbon credits generated from projects in different developing countries. This is an exemplary attitude that always keeps us motivated, because our buyers understand that the social, health, environmental and economic benefits our project achieve have a more powerful impact. This is why Simoshi’s carbon credits have been verified to achieve nine Sustainable Development Goals.

We are proud to continuously remind our readers and buyers that Simoshi’s Project Activity has a unique and competitive advantage within the cook stove sector, as it is one of the very few projects - if not the only one - that provides on-going support and free annual stove maintenance for 5 years to all participating schools under its project.

To all our supporters and buyers of carbon credits, who consciously understand the integrity of our project operations, we say thank you. Without your support, we would not be able to help new schools move away from using 3-stone fires for all of their cooking activities.

Climate Constellations

The Keeling Curve Prize annually awards $250,000 to projects that display proven carbon uptake, drawdown, or sequestration efforts. Through their GWMP Sphere Program global network of people and projects dedicated to finding climate solutions, they connect individuals with sponsors, students with internships, and problems with solutions - creating an atmosphere of change.

Due to the current COVID-19 crisis, the Sphere came up with a fantastic Climate Constellations programme, with the goal of pairing students with organisations for an 8-10 week period, virtual, unpaid, full or part-time internship, as they had lost their summer internship positions.

We welcome Jolie Wasserman as the Marketing & Communications intern for Simoshi. In this role, Jolie will monitor several social media platforms and use creative marketing techniques to raise awareness about carbon finance and promote carbon credit sales. Jolie is currently an undergraduate at Cornell University where she is pursuing a B.S. degree in Environment & Sustainability in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She hopes to combine her interests in long-term sustainability, business, and finance by pursuing a career in the sustainable management and sustainable finance fields.

Jolie has also served as an intern for the past few years in the office of New York State Assemblywoman, Sandy Galef. In this capacity, she helped work on a plastic bag ban, which ultimately went into effect this past March. Additionally, Jolie is a researcher for Cornell University Sustainable Design’s Solar Panel Reboot project team. This summer, she will continue her work further investigating solar panel refurbishment techniques. In addition to these endeavors, Jolie is an accomplished flutist having performed at both Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. Her involvement with the music community continues in college as a member of the Cornell University Wind Symphony.

Schools Closed Throughout June

Last month we were excited to write about candidate classes resuming on 4th of June. But unfortunately that directive never happened as President Museveni announced last week that schools would be closed for another 30 days.

It is certainly sad for us too as most of our activities had also been halted. We have used these past months to maintain all institutional improved cook stoves (IICS) as kitchens are not being used.

We are still getting calls and emails from new schools asking for quotations and payment plans to purchase new IICS and move away from traditional 3-stone fires and outdoors cooking as the pictures here below. Private and public schools are desperate to go back to normal but also concerned about how they will manage to implement the social distancing requirements.

It is also of worry to read reports that have looked at the consequences the ebola pandemic had in West African countries and early marriage of adolescent girls. Leaving school takes them away from friends and spaces where they develop social skills and networks as well as support systems. The importance of addressing these challenges is clear: many countries through sub-Saharan Africa have relatively young populations – the majority of the population is aged below 25 – and school closures could leave many adolescent girls vulnerable.

End of a May in Standstill

May has been a quiet month as we continued with the lockdown measures as a result of COVID-19. Nevertheless, this week we have entered a new phase as relaxing measures are now in place, such as private cars are back on the road, and public transport will be soon released.

The other great news is that candidate classes (Primary 7, Senior 4 and Senior 6) will go back to school next week to commence with Term II. This is certainly crucial for Simoshi as we are eager to continue promoting the use of energy efficient cooking stoves in school kitchens to get them moving away from traditional 3-stone fires. But we urgently need for all classes to go back to “normal” or how we used to know life before - if there is any chance that it will ever be the life as we knew it.

Debate aside, we have used the spare time to work on the office’s backyard and the bushy space has been magically converted to a vegetable garden by our colleague Henry. I could not resist to also share a picture of the breathtaking sunrise in Kampala, as air got cleaner (and views more stunning) during the past three months of lock down. And a picture of the deserted capital roads being patrolled by military to ensure everyone adheres to the health measures.

Please remember to continue supporting our activities and schools in Uganda by offsetting your carbon footprint as you purchase the emission reductions (carbon credits) from the United Nations Climate Neutral Now portal here.

And Another School Joins!

Today we had again the pleasure to deliver 6 institutional improved stoves (IICS) to a secondary school of 2,000 boarding students in Bombo, 60 kilometers ways from the capital Kampala. Despite all the difficulties we are currently facing with the transport restrictions (between many other!) we have still managed to remove old stoves, and make the delivery and installation of the new IICS. We are looking forward to going back to normal times so we can share pictures of the new kitchen and happy cooks.