BURN, a leading manufacturer of clean cooking stoves, has secured a significant investment of US$15 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB). This announcement was made during the World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings held in Washington, D.C. The funding will play a crucial role in accelerating BURN’s mission to manufacture and distribute its innovative IoT-enabled ECOA electric cooking appliances, aiming to reach over 1 million households in East Africa.
The ECOA Induction Cooker (IDC) features groundbreaking Pay As You Cook (PAYC) technology, which is seamlessly integrated with mobile money payment systems and the ECOA Mobile App. This innovative approach allows users to make small payments through their mobile phones, enabling them to gradually acquire their cooking devices via daily or weekly installments, achieving full ownership within a year. Each ECOA IDC also comes with a high-quality 3-piece stainless steel induction cookware set, fully manufactured in Kenya.
In addition to providing affordable cooking solutions, the ECOA IDC generates high-integrity carbon credits through integrated cellular-enabled IoT technology, which allows for real-time monitoring of energy usage. Each unit is estimated to reduce approximately 2.5 tonnes of carbon emissions annually, aligning with EIB’s broader climate action, gender equality, and economic development objectives. This funding will further bolster BURN’s efforts to transition low-income households from traditional charcoal stoves to clean electric cooking.
Peter Scott, Founder and CEO of BURN, expressed the company’s commitment to creating a cleaner cooking environment, noting that thousands of households in Kenya and Tanzania have already benefited from their PAYC electric cooking solution. He emphasized that this investment will enable the transition of over a million low-income households to cooking with electricity, which is largely sourced from renewable energy grids that are 80-95% powered by sustainable sources.
BURN’s cookstoves have demonstrated significant advantages, including a 39% reduction in fuel costs compared to traditional methods, translating to savings of US$119 per year for families. Each cookstove also reduces CO2 emissions by approximately 3.5 tons annually, contributing positively to environmental sustainability.
To date, BURN has distributed over 5 million clean cookstoves across Africa, significantly impacting the lives of over 25 million people and preventing an impressive 26 million tons of CO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere. This latest investment from the EIB underscores BURN’s commitment to driving innovation in clean cooking solutions while promoting environmental and economic sustainability.
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