Promoting sustainable energy in Nepal

Situation in the districts

The climate protection project targets marginalised, indigenous communities in the Nepalese districts of Udayapur, Makwanpur and Sindhuli. Families in the project region generally have limited access to resources and technologies and need firewood to cook meals and boil drinking water. Due to ongoing deforestation, resources are becoming even scarcer. Women in particular have to travel long distances to collect firewood and families have to invest their income in firewood. The climate protection project of our partner organisation SAHAS in Nepal counteracts this.

About the climate protection project

The project aims to provide sustainable, clean technologies to meet rural energy needs - while maintaining climate sustainability by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This will involve providing households in the districts with 10,000 biogas units, 20,000 improved cooking stoves and 15,000 clean drinking water devices. The project will be implemented over a period of 5 years. The SAHAS FOUNDATION, project partner of Bread for the World, will implement this project with the help of income from CO₂ certificates.

As part of the project, the partner organisation SAHAS replaces the traditional cooking stoves with improved cooking stoves with an efficiency of more than 20 %. The use of improved cooking stoves reduces the consumption of firewood. The permanently installed biogas plants are operated with cow dung. The fermentation produces biogas, which families can use for cooking, heating water and lighting, for example. In addition, devices for clean drinking water are provided, such as bio-sand filters or ceramic filters. Families thus save additional firewood because the water no longer needs to be boiled.

Participation of the local population

The cooking stoves, biogas plants and water filters are selected by the local project organisers in coordination with the communities and technology experts in the region.

A free repair service ensures that the devices remain in good functioning condition. For this purpose, local skilled workers are trained. In total, SAHAS creates about 300 jobs in the region.

For women in particular, the climate protection project has many advantages: Time is saved because less time is spent collecting firewood. Women use this time to pursue other activities. These include, for example, income-generating activities or time with the family. In addition, less wood has to be bought, so families have more money to spend. The reduced smoke formation leads to an improvement of the health situation and through the integration into the local production chain, women get income-generating jobs. In this way, the project also contributes to gender equality in the districts.

Current situation

"The second COVID 19 wave seems to be weakening, but the pandemic has reached the communities, so it is a difficult time for vulnerable families. We have regular virtual meetings with our staff to share opportunities and difficulties. Our staff have already distributed water filters and are looking for more end-users such as schools, CBOs (community based organisations) and are coordinating with the local government on their budget to include more vulnerable families in the project.

In the early stages of the monsoon, 74 districts experienced landslides and flooding, resulting in loss of life and property, which could worsen in the coming days. Another major problem in Nepal is political instability."                                                                                                                                                                                                                        SAHAS member

In the Gold Standard Register you can transparently view the retired certificates and get an overview of the climate and development impacts of the certified project:
ttps://registry.goldstandard.org/projects/details/1783