C-Quest Capital LLC (“CQC”) has closed a second round of investment from Macquarie Group and Shell Eastern Trading Pte Ltd to accelerate growth in its clean cookstoves portfolio in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The investments will see CQC expand into Angola and fund further growth in existing markets, bringing the total reach of CQC’s innovative double clean cookstoves program supported by Macquarie and Shell to 3.7 million rural households. These efforts will lead to the generation of more than 200 million high-quality carbon credits with verified Sustainable Development Contributions to the Voluntary Carbon Market over the next 10 years. Emissions reductions will be achieved through utilizing clean cookstoves that are three times more efficient than open fire cooking, reducing the amount of unsustainably harvested firewood, and switching to sustainable sources of biomass fuels such as crop residue.
These investments will significantly improve the health and well-being of over 15 million people, with key beneficiaries being the women and children who will spend less time carrying firewood over long distances and avoid exposure to toxic air pollution from open fires. The project activities will also directly fund local employment in CQC’s ‘Stove Champion’ program, which is expected to provide work for over 4,000 people in local communities to conduct post-installation audits and monitoring for the lifetime of these projects. Other project initiatives include funding for the education of vulnerable girls, contributions to village savings and loans societies for borrowing by women using our stoves, and distribution of drip irrigation kits for dry season food and nutrition. These initiatives all add significant social, economic, and environmental sustainable development impact, leading to each project achieving 9 to 11 UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Overall, these investments build on deals with both investors last year to deliver clean cookstoves to 2.5 million households, scaling the program to reach an additional 1.2 million households.
“Macquarie is excited to expand our relationship with CQC, a leader in the development of carbon projects that deliver emissions reductions as well as a positive social impact. This extension of our activities in Sub-Saharan Africa forms an integral part of Macquarie’s offering in carbon finance and carbon markets where we bring capital, project development, and risk management capabilities,” says Erik Petersson, Executive Director, Macquarie Commodities and Global Markets.
“Improving access to affordable and sustainable energy is critical to addressing key global challenges,” says Bill McGrath, General Manager Global Environmental Products at Shell. “This collaboration is a fantastic example of how carbon financing provides a new mechanism to fund projects that not only address emissions but also transform the lives of remote communities.”
“Bringing well-motivated major global capital providers into transformative activities at the community level in the poorest countries is essential to manage climate risk for the most vulnerable, who are disproportionately affected by climate change,” says Ken Newcombe, CEO of C-Quest Capital. “C-Quest’s work is about more than reducing emissions – it’s about investments that leave a positive and lasting impact both for the environment and people’s lives.”