Market Landscape for Improved Cookstoves in Mozambique

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Introduction

In Mozambique, less than 5% of the population have access to clean cooking fuels and technologies in 2019. Thus, there is an enormous opportunity for clean cooking solutions in Mozambique. The impacts of traditional biomass for cooking are not limited to health problems, deforestation, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions but also the inefficient cookstoves keeps the person cooking (usually women) from performing other activities, such as working or studying, due to long cooking periods and the time needed to collect firewood or purchase charcoal. Additionally, a more efficient cookstoves reduces the fuel amount needed to cook a meal, thus reducing fuel costs.

The Mozambican cookstove market is currently at a nascent stage and is driven by donor initiatives that are focused on creating a cookstoves market. Thus, there is a need and opportunity for private sector participation in moving the market forward. This article outlines the cookstove market in Mozambique i.e. actors involved, potential market size as well as challenges and opportunities for the private sector. This market assessment is targeted at private sector, donor organisations and other key stakeholders who are interested/active in the ICS market and want to get a deeper understanding of the market.

In this article, the term improved cookstoves (ICS) includes efficient cookstoves that burn solid biomass such as firewood, charcoal, agricultural residues, animal dung and other solid biomass products. Advanced or high tier cookstoves (ACS) are fuelled by LPG, biogas, solar energy or electricity and are mentioned in some sections of this article. ACS are not included in the term ICS, however they are included in the terms clean cooking solutions and clean cooking technologies.

For an overview on the demographics and socio-economic indicators for Mozambique, see this chapter.

For detail information about the biomass potential in Mozambique, please see this chapter.

For a detailed overview of clean cooking technologies see this article.

Stakeholder Landscape

Development organisations and NGOs

The ICS market is mostly driven by development organisation initiatives. One of the most active energy programmes is EnDev, which works towards ICS market development by capacitating local ICS entrepreneurs and providing Results-based Financing (RBF). It also organises regular meetings to promote networking among the stakeholders which compensates for the lack of an ICS association. Several local and international NGOs, as well as international development organisations, such as SNV, AVSI, ADEL-Sofala, Livaningo and Kulima among others have also implemented clean cooking programmes in Mozambique[1]. The Energy and Sustainable Development Forum of Mozambique (FEDESMO) is another association that has also been actively promoting improved charcoal cookstoves.

Some of the key energy access programmes and their goals related to ICS are:

• EnDev, provided over 933,000 people with modern clean cooking energy until end of 2021. It is also strengthening the ICS market by supporting the Biomass and Energy Certification and Test Center (BECT) in developing quality standards and testing of ICS; supporting the production and commercialisation of different types of stoves such as artisanal, semi-industrail and industrial stoves; and also supporting awareness raising activities.

• BRILHO, planning to distribute a total of 150,000 cook stoves
• ILUMINA, planning to distribute a total of 16,000 cook stoves
• TSE4ALLM, producing biogas from organic waste.

To know more about all on-going clean cooking programmes, click here .

Testing Centre

The Biomass Energy Certification and Testing Centre (BECT) is the only testing facility which provides testing and certification of ICS in Mozambique. It is located at the Eduardo Mondlane University.

Private Sector

Up until March 2020, there were 10-15 companies supplying ICS stoves (charcoal and fuelwood) in the Mozambique market compared to 4 ICS suppliers in 2018. Some of the companies include: MozCarbon, ENI,  ICEMA LDA, Carbonsink, Sogepal and Pamoja Moçambique. For the ICS supply chain, two-step distribution chain i.e. producers to consumers is most common but many companies are also expanding the distribution chain to reach consumers outside the capital city, Maputo. The ICS companies often collaborate with solar companies to provide ICS in combination with a solar product. The ICS markets includes both artisanal production as well as cookstoves imported from other countries. Some ICS companies like BURN are looking to distribute Electric Pressure Cookers while companies like Pamoja offer smart cookstoves with solar panels included (see in the table below).

The table lists some of the companies active in Mozambique:

Company	Stove models	Stoves sold so far (03.2022)	Future targets	End-user financing	Region of Operation
Carbonsink	Mbaula B (Portable charcoal stove) CH-2200 Envirofit (Portable charcoal stove) Mbaula Poupa+++ (charcoal) Poupa-lenha (Portable firewood stove) Rocket Works’ Zama Zama (firewood stove)	80,000	200,000 stoves by 2027	Payment in 2 installments. The final stove cost is subsidized via grants, RBF and carbon financing	Delgado and Maputo province
Mozambique Carbon Initiatives LDA	Mbaula Poupa+ (charcoal) Envirofit Econochar (charcoal) Envirofit Econofire (charcoal) Envirofit CH2200 (charcoal) Rocket Works Chazama (charcoal)	86,152	72,000 stoves per year	Payment in 3 monthly installments. The stove cost is subsidized via grants, RBF and carbon financing. Carbon financing allows the affordability of stoves and clients benefit from low price by transferring their carbon rights to the company	Currently focused on the provinces of Maputo, Gaza, Inhambane and Sofala
Pamoja	Smart stove package	1200	1000-2000 stoves per year	PAYGO over 18 months	Nampula
Sogepal	Aluminium charcoal cookstoves	45,000	144,000 stoves by 2024	Stoves sold at subsidized price, made possible by grants and Results-based funding	Southern Mozambique
BURN	Kuniokoa Electric Pressure Cooker (Ecoa) Jikokoa	7000	250.000 households by 2024	B2B and B2C model PAYGO over 3-18 months	Entire country

Other companies such as Green 66 Innovations aims at distributing at least 100,000 ethanol stoves by 2025 in Maputo and Matola and 50,000 bioethanol cookstoves by 2027. The stoves are manufactured in South Africa. Italian Energy company Eni, has produced 8,448 ICS and sold 6,198 from 2016 to 2020 in Mozambique.  These stoves are manufactured in Mozambique.

Supporting Polices and Strategies for ICS

Mozambique still lacks clear policies and targets for the ICS sector. Even though there is current development of cooking standards for charcoal and gas, there are yet no set national ICS standards.

Some supporting strategies for the ICS sector are mentioned below:

Biomass Energy Strategy BEST (2013): BEST was developed jointly by the Government of Mozambique and the European Union Energy Initiative Partnership Dialogue Facility to establish measures for sustainable biomass energy supply in a domestic, institutional and industrial level. This strategy includes actions such as upfront regulatory changes, creating an institutional organisation, capacity building for sustainable wood resource management, the improvement of the charcoal value chain, monitoring charcoal flows, promoting the use of ICS, and promoting modern biomass-based cooking fuels and other modern fuels. However, the strategy is currently not being implemented.

Strategy for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biomass Energy – ECUSEB (2014-2025) (Estratégia de Conservação e Uso Sustentável da Energia da Biomassa): It is one of the instruments for the materialisation of the Development Policy for New and Renewable Energy and is approved by Resolution No. 62/2009 (Política de Desenvolvimento de Energias Novas e Renováveis aprovada pela Resolução n.º 62/2009), of October 14. Its objective is to promote the sustainable production and use of woody biomass energy through the adoption of alternative sources of energy to ensure energy access in the domestic and industrial sectors.

• Gradually formalise charcoal sector by introducing private sector as a vehicle for change
• Shift from the use of firewood and woody resources to alternative sources of energy
• Technology transfer and ICS promotion
• Forest management practices

Carbon credits for ICS: Many development programmes are shifting gear from traditional cookstoves distribution model to market development model. Thus, organisations such as AVSI and EnDev are offering carbon finance to promote market development for ICS. Since 2013, EnDev has linked ICS companies with carbon trading companies in Mozambique to finance the ICS. E.g., the carbon trading companies buys the carbon credits from ICS suppliers and sell them in the international market. The revenue from the carbon credits is then used to subsidise the price of ICS for end consumers. Some of the carbon credit companies active in Mozambique include MozCarbon, Garner, CarbonSink, and C-Quest Capital.

Further Information

• Energy Access Situation in Mozambique
• ICS in Mozambique: Market Size
• ICS in Mozambique: Consumer Insights
• ICS in Mozambique: Challenges and Recommendations for the Private Sector