On 14-15 Jan, Mr. Ingo Puhl, Founding Partnerof South Pole Group, WOCAN Partner attended theLao Clean Stove Initiative (CSI) Phase 2 Innovative Health Impact Result Based Financing (RBF) Mechanism for Promoting Clean Cookstoves Background Analysis and Design Initiation Workshop in Vientian, Lao PDR. The workshop is organized bythe Institute for Renewable Energy Promotion (IREP) of the Ministry of Energy and Mines and the World Bank.
Today, 96 percent of the population in Lao PDR use solid fuels for cooking. Lao PDR is estimated to have one of the highest health burdens in the world from household air pollution – ranked number one of all those risk factors for the country in causing lost healthy life years or Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) – above even smoking (according to the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010, The Lancet 2012). Many affected people are women and children. To address these issues, the Lao Government, the World Bank and partners have been implementing the Lao Clean Stove Initiative (CSI) since early 2012, currently under Phase II of the CSI (Phase I involved stock taking review and development of intervention strategy and Phase II is implementing the intervention strategy).
As part of the Lao CSI Phase II, the project is exploring a potential of innovative Health Impact RBF Mechanism for promoting clean cookstoves, which is based on market mechanisms where buyers/investors/financiers will pay for reduced health damages from cooking on biomass fire, and households’ willingness-to-pay for improved cookstoves. The health benefits will be estimated in terms of averted DALYs as purchasing units.
The team includes a world renowned expert Professor Kirk Smith who is one of the authors of Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 and a Coordinating Lead Author (CLA) of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Report (AR) 5 and among the authors of IPCC AR 3 and 4, and Ken Newcombe who initiated the innovative health impact RBF to promote improved cookstoves, pioneered carbon finance at the Bank and in the world, prepared the first cookstoves loans at the Bank in 1980s and is a founding member of Global Environment Facility (GEF).
Objective of the workshop is to initiate Background Analysis and Design of Health RBF Mechanism for the Lao CSI and obtain support and potential cooperation.