WASHINGTON, DC – August 30, 2023 | Today, Verra—the leading standards setter for climate action and sustainable development—launched the first of many ways for companies, private citizens and philanthropies to invest in a better world. For the first time, there is now a way to buy a market-based unit of a social good—in this case, the time saved by households in developing economies when they switch to clean, efficient cookstoves.
The new Methodology for Time Savings from Improved Cookstoves was developed by C-Quest Capital and is the first methodology for creating a tradable asset representing a quantified, unique and verified sustainable development benefit. It was approved under Verra’s Sustainable Development Verified Impact Standard (SD VISta) Program, which certifies the real-world benefits of social and environmental projects and their contributions to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While similar impacts were previously considered add-ons to the climate benefits of clean cookstoves, this is the first time investors can directly finance an often abstract social good, based on reliable data and a third-party assessment.
“They say time is money, and for women and children that’s true—but it’s more than that. Time is freedom and the chance to spend it on activities that build a better life. Now, companies and investors who want to demonstrate their commitment to women, children and sustainable development in general have a powerful new tool for unlocking critical finance to transform lives.”
The projects using the time savings methodology will contribute to SDGs 5 (Gender Equality) and 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth). One “time savings unit” represents the average number of hours each household saved per year on time spent collecting fuel and cooking.
The first project to utilize this transformative methodology is already underway in rural Angola, where the revenue from tradable units based on time saved during cooking and fuel collection is leading to tangible improvements in education and local economic activities, making strides toward gender equality and economic growth.
C-Quest Capital is an award-winning global carbon project developer with a mission to transform the lives of families in vulnerable communities around the world. The methodology is now available to any project developer who seeks to develop a project for the same activities and wants to register it in Verra’s SD VISta Program.
For questions and inquiries, please contact:
Joel Finkelstein, Senior Director, Media and Advocacy
jfinkelstein@verra.org | 202-285-0113
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Verra is a nonprofit organization that operates the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Program, as well as other standards in environmental and social markets. Verra is committed to helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve livelihoods and protect natural resources by working with the private and public sectors. We support climate action and sustainable development with standards programs that credibly, transparently and robustly assess environmental and social impacts and enable funding for sustaining and scaling up projects that verifiably deliver these benefits.