Co-op Insurance, which believes everyone has a role to play in addressing climate change, is supporting access to clean cooking for more than 140,000 Ghana residents through a Gold Standard project part-funded by the insurer’s carbon offsetting programme.
The programme, in partnership with ClimateCare, offsets 10% of customers’ average annual carbon footprint in the first year for every motor and home insurance policyholder. What the funding does is equip people in Ghana with the skills and knowledge they would need to manufacture, market, and sell Gyapa stoves, which require 60% less charcoal than traditional ones.
The stoves, the name of which means “good fire,” produce less smoke and save families around $100 in annual fuel costs. According to the insurer, the project benefits more than 500 retailers, with 350 skilled manufacturers producing and selling 12,000 stoves each month. They come in different sizes and are appropriate for both domestic and commercial use.
“We offer new customers carbon offset as standard on all home and motor policies, at no extra cost,” said Co-op Insurance chief executive Mark Summerfield. “We have chosen this project specifically as in addition to its environmental impact, it offers excellent long-term social benefits such as job creation, and is helping to facilitate a better quality of life for thousands in the developing world.”
Summerfield continued: “This exciting project is one of the many ways we’re committed to doing business ethically; we already source 99% of our electricity from renewable sources (including our own wind farms), and have reduced our direct carbon footprint by 46% since 2006.”
ClimateCare – which has offices in the UK, Kenya, and India – works with government and corporate partners to tackle climate change, drive sustainable development, and build climate resilience. To date it has worked with hundreds of partners to cut more than 20.6 million tonnes of CO2.
“We’re very proud to be partnered with Co-op Insurance, which continues to demonstrate its longstanding commitment to mitigating climate change and improving lives,” commented ClimateCare CEO Edward Hanrahan. “By tying climate action into its products as standard, Co-Op Insurance is showing real ambition on climate change, and driving carbon emissions reductions at scale.”
Summerfield added: “We all have a part to play in addressing the pressing issue of climate change, and through this offer we’re making it easier than ever for Co-op customers to make that choice.”
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