The “Sunderbans” Business Model- Key Successes and Achievements

Servals Automation Pvt Ltd

Earn While you Cook“ A Triple Line Oriented Economic Model that pays households for using improved cook-stoves”

Sapient Infotech

Background

In Sunderbans, India Around TLUD Gasifier

Biomass Cookstove First carbon project with

Gasifier cookstoves Largest dissemination of

gasifiers in the world till date

First ever to build in a charcoal buyback system

Best organised at the local level (kudos to the implementation partner- Sapient - in Sunderbans)

Servals and Sapient have set up a pioneering carbon project

Has Received Gold Standard Registration Has started generating Carbon Credits

Background

The project has 8500 TLUD installations so far; expected to reach 15000 installations in the next 6 months.

Process is underway to upgrade this project, which is currently registered as a “Gold Standard project” to a “CDM Gold Standard project”.

The CDM is a UN standard and requires more stringent monitoring and evaluations. In simple language, in “carbon credit” parlance, CDM Gold Standard projects are considered more “premium quality” than Gold Standard.

Atmosfair, A German NGO, is our carbon funder

What was the intended Goal?

The vision was to develop a business model for the dissemination of the improved cookstoves• That are not dependent on grants or

subsidy• That create a series of economic

activity in the local community • That creates an eco-system for other

stakeholders to participate in the economic activity (Loan partners, local stakeholders, local distribution channels, rural households)

Create the Charcoal “Collateral”

The “TLUD Charcoal”

Economy…

The Households using TLUD .. Will store the charcoal after each cooking

session in a container..about 15-20 kg per month

Which will get picked up by the charcoal entrepreneur

Every month For which they will get paid every month The charcoal entrepreneur will consolidate

charcoal quantities And sell them to charcoal users

Business While Cooking…

Notable Mentions of the “Earn While you Cook” Model at

Sunderbans At 8500 households (as on Apr ‘15) this is the largest

organized charcoal buy-back program in the world Currently producing 125 ton of charcoal per week Valued at INR 1.5 million per week

.

A 7 crore economic enterprise from cookstove residue from

8500 households ….

The Socio-Economic-Environmental Balance

Sheet Social:

– Users earning 250 per month - 8000 users– The Charcoal Buyer employs additional 20 workers to handle

our load of charcoal

Economic:– Setting up a rural enterprise - Quality Enterprise– INR 6 million infused into the rural economy of the project area

every month ( 4 ml char turnover + 2 ml user earning )– Rural wealth generation - vans for quality enterprise, high

profitability Environmental:

– 1kg of TLUD charcoal saves 6 kg of wood - corresponding to approx. 7 kg of CO2.

– 300 T of charcoal generated every month = 1800 T of wood saved = 2160 T of CO2 emission saved per month only for charcoal

.

What is the significance of this

achievement• Shows that a triple bottom-line oriented business model is possible

in the household cook-stove sector

• Shows that the cook-stove addresses at least 5 out of the 8

Millennium Development Goals of the UN

• Shows that the TLUD charcoal residue can be a meaningful new

source of energy fuel

• Shows that building the entire cook-stove ecosystem rather than

just selling cook-stoves, is a more sustainable way to promote

clean cook-stoves

• Shows that grant/subsidy/patient capital targeted at market

building can be effective

.

The ‘Cook-n-Earn’ model, can create tangible social impact while alleviating energy poverty. 

…

Learnings- The “short elevator” pitch

• Cook-n-Earn is an energy access program with a difference.

• Through the act of cooking with a clean cookstove, women from

low income households become artisans who turn biomass into

charcoal

• which they then sell to earn additional income.

• By supplying biomass, local vendors of clean, sustainable fuels are

presented with unprecedented opportunities for market creation,

brought about by clean cookstoves and charcoal.  

Measurable communal and economic benefits Emboldens corporations and businesses in their quest to

realise triple bottom line benefits. Enables generation of carbon credits that can be purchased

by corporations to reduce their carbon footprints.

What Next?

• Help Spread the Message about Business model

• To identify more project implementers who can build such

programs

• To identify project funders who can help replicate the model

• Help spread the Message about this new fuel

• Green or organic charcoal?

• Additional source of legitimate fuel

• Environmental benefits of this fuel source

.

Evangelize the success to create more such successes…

Thank You