Biomass fuels: towards solutions

There are now particularly efficient biomass-burning cookstoves that substantially reduce smoke emissions and exposures.

Some of the more advanced biomass-burning cookstoves reduce emissions by as much as 90% by incorporating technologies (e.g.fans) that improve combustion efficiency.

Other ways of reducing biomass fuel use and smoke exposure include cleaner fuels, better ventilation and changes in cooking behavior.

Access to smoke exposure reduction technologies is limited by poverty in much of the developing world.

The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (GACC) was launched in 2010 to tackle the lack of access to clean affordable energy through public-private partnerships.

A central aim of the alliance is for 100 million homes to adopt clean and efficient stoves and fuels by 2020.