- BURN clean cookstove manufacturer wins Ashden Award Winner for Outstanding Achievement.
- BURN sold $37 million of credits on the carbon market.
- BURN’s stoves have generated 9.5M Gold Standard credits.
BURN, a clean cookstoves manufacturer and carbon project developer, has been named the 2025 Ashden Award Winner for Outstanding Achievement under the Global South category.
“This marks another major milestone in the company’s mission to save lives and forest through its clean cooking appliances,” Peter Scott, Founder and CEO of BURN, commented in a press release following the announcement.
The announcement was made during the 25th anniversary Ashden Awards ceremony at the Royal Geographical Society in London, where BURN was recognized for its industry-defining approach to clean cooking.
Among other things, BURN’s development ranges from locally manufactured clean cook stoves to digital monitoring and last-mile distribution. Todate, BURN’s integrated model has brought more than 5.5 million biomass, LPG, and electric cooking appliances across Africa, including its award-winning, cellular-enabled ECOA Induction Cooker.
Acccording to the press release; “These appliances have improved the lives of over 28 million people while reducing household fuel costs by $1.1 billion, indoor air pollution by 65-100%, and protecting forests by saving over 16M tons of wood.”
“When we first received our award, we only had 50 staff selling our improved charcoal stove, and now we are 3,000 plus staff in over 10 countries in Africa and growing,” the CEO detailed.
He said just a few years ago, affordable electric cooking for low-income households seemed out of reach but now, with innovation and carbon finance, BURN is bringing to the market, induction cookers to millions of families across the continent.
“Our mission is clear: to help the 600 million people with electricity access to transition to zero-emission electric cooking,” he said.
Notably, this is BURN’s second Ashden Award; the company was first honoured in 2015 for improving health outcomes and expanding economic opportunities for women through clean cooking solutions in Kenya. For Peter Scott, this year’s award comes full circle after he received his first Ashden Award two decades ago as a pioneer in clean energy innovation.
According to the press statement, BURN’s model enables customers to shift from inefficient and polluting cooking to clean, zero-emission solutions. These stoves generate high-integrity carbon credits that lower the cost of clean cooking by up to 90%.
Underlining the achievement, Ashden CEO Dr Ashok Sinha said: “The 2025 Ashden Award winners are setting us on course for a fairer, greener, better future. These are proven solutions with enormous impact, led by true climate pioneers. In Ashden’s 25th year, we are delighted to celebrate these inclusive and inspiring champions.”
“In today’s turbulent world, our winners are illuminating the way forward – improving lives as well as slashing carbon emissions by creating new jobs, cutting energy bills, improving health and building stronger communities. Congratulations to every one of them,” added Dr Ashok Sinha
This year’s ceremony featured remarks from UK Climate Envoy Rachel Kyte, Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate, and Myra Anubi of BBC World Service, spotlighting solutions that deliver tangible impact at the grassroots and global levels.
As a 2025 winner, the company will receive ongoing strategic support from Ashden, including global media exposure and access to influential networks of funders, investors, and climate policy leaders. The award announcement coincides with the UK’s Great Big Green Week and precedes London Climate Action Week, underscoring its global significance.
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BURN, Africa’s leading clean cooking company
Headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, BURN is now considered to be Africa’s leading clean cooking company and one of the only carbon project developers to cover the full carbon value chain, from project design and in-house monitoring to credit issuance.
The company operates across 11 African countries, and to date, BURN’s efficient stoves have generated 9.5M Gold Standard credits, reduced indoor air pollution by 65-100%, and protected forests by saving over 16M tons of wood. Learn more at burnstoves.com.
The company was founded in 2010, and essentially created to save forests by revolutionizing the cookstove sector. While traditional, inefficient cookstoves can bankrupt families, damage their health, and destroy forests, BURN’s best-in-class cookstoves can save families money on fuel, limit indoor air pollution and protect forests.
BURN has direct operations across nine African countries, and employs over 2,500 people. So far, the company has made and distributed nearly 4.4 million clean cookstoves, transforming the lives of over 24 million people and preventing over 20 million tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere.
BURN’s impacts have been validated by Wharton & Chicago Booth, Yunus Social Business and Giving Green among others. BURN has been awarded many accolades, including winning the ‘Best Project Developer’ award for the energy efficiency category of the Environmental Finance VCM Rankings in 2023.
BURN is selling clean cookstoves for as little as $3 each by using carbon credits since the stoves reduce the health threat to families by cutting indoor air pollution.
How they work: BURN’s stoves have special holes in the sides that draw more air into the flame, converting poisonous carbon monoxide into safer CO2. The stoves are also designed to minimize heat loss, meaning they burn less wood, which is better for the environment and cheaper for families.
Carbon credits make BURN stoves affordable
A third of the global population cooks using open fires or inefficient stoves, generating harmful indoor pollution that kills 3.2 million people a year. Women and children, who typically perform most indoor tasks, often bear the brunt.
The cost of switching to new stoves can be too high, but BURN’s use of carbon credits makes the stoves affordable for families. It has sold $37 million of credits on the carbon market by comparing the reduction in wood consumption from the clean stove to that of a traditional stove and converting this to CO2 savings.
“We use the revenue from carbon credits to subsidize stoves for families,” CEO Scott, summed up.
