The Butterfly Effect

“The project is the epitome of climate change funding. It protects wildlife, natural resources, and the people that depend on them. Improved stoves are not in common practice in this poor rural area and the knowledge and specialized materials to make this cookstove would not be available if not for the project activity. When the project started, the team relied solely on private donations, unstable funding that frequently fluctuates in relation to market indicators or time of year. The sale of carbon credits is a more reliable and sustainable funding model for the Project to enable its long-term success.”

– Sid Yadav, Director Project Research

Project Type: Technology-based Avoidance/Reduction

Carbon Standard: Gold Standard

Vintage: 2019-2020

Additionality: Without the sale of carbon, this non-profit project would not distribute the Patsari cookstoves that replace traditional three-stone fire cooking.

Permanence: When a stove burns half the amount of firewood, it permanently prevents an equivalent amount of CO2 emissions.

Site Visit: Q3 2021

This project prevents emissions of about 25,000 metric tonnes of CO2 per year by providing Patsari improved cookstoves (ICS) to the communities located in the 15 km buffer zone surrounding the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere.

Open fire cookstoves or colloquially, three stone fires, are commonplace technology in the area. Inefficient cooking fires put pressure on local Oyamel fir tree forests, which negatively impacts the biodiversity of the area – specifically, the Monarch Butterfly. Moreover, the stoves expose users to dangerous levels of smoke and particulate matter inside their homes, negatively impacting the health of the communities.

The Oyamel fir trees in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere reserve provide shelter and warmth for Monarch every winter. As the wood harvest for cooking fires thins the once dense forest, winter temperatures cut into the forest and millions of butterflies freeze.

Currently the Project has installed 3,500-4,000 stoves, but the local area consists of 30 municipalities – and could benefit from 72,000 stoves. This is where the sale of carbon will have a major impact in providing a sustainable revenue model to scale implementation, including enhanced monitoring and maintenance.

Three burner stoves are constructed in the home by trained, locally employed construction teams that use locally sourced materials including brick, gravel, sand, clay, mortar, cement, Patsari metal kits, steel rods, boilers, and tiles. The project employs 10 full time staff in administrative roles and roughly 20 field staff.

The number of field staff varies based on project needs but is designed to scale with the help of carbon credits. Field project staff work on a 6-month contract basis, paid for each unit of service.

• Reduced wood fuel use preventing forest degradation: Fuelwood savings range from 44% to 65% compared to traditional open fires.
• Access to a cleaner and more efficient cookstove with safety measures and improved combustion reduces the exposure to toxic gases improving the living conditions in the home.
• Stoves burn less wood, so women spend less time gathering fuel, freeing up their time for other activities such as education and improving their quality of life.
• Local community benefits from direct and indirect employment opportunities

• Well trained and dedicated local staff are necessary to encourage maintenance of the stoves, requiring supervision, monitoring, and support.
• The Mexican Government’s policy on voluntary projects contributing to their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) is still unclear.
• The voluntary carbon market currently favors removals projects.