31 October 2013: The World Bank’s new publication, titled ‘China – Accelerating household access to clean cooking and heating,’ is the initial output of the China Clean Stove Initiative (CSI), a collaborative effort of the Chinese Government and the World Bank that aims to mitigate the health hazards associated with cooking with the coal and biomass fuels used by over half of China’s population.

The report finds that, in China, over one million premature deaths per year are caused by indoor air pollution associated with dirty cooking fuels. The report summarizes knowledge on the hazards of this pollution and analyzes: household cooking and heating demand; household stove supply; and policies, programs, and institutional players. It also offers policy recommendations, and finds that many households are going to continue using solid fuels in the near future despite recent rapid uptake of clean biogas due to the cost of switching to clean alternatives.

It further notes that China has a number of biogas and solar cooker success stories that can serve as examples in designing future programmes. It cautions, however, that impediments remain in scaling up such programmes, including a lack of firm policy commitments, lack of coordination and cooperation among relevant government actors, and the need for flexible subsidy schemes that include robust monitoring and evaluation schemes, and increased awareness-raising activities to ensure the public understands the value of switching to improved technologies. [Press release] [Publication: China – Accelerating household access to clean cooking and heating: English, Chinese]