How Global Cookstoves gained a competitive edge beyond CCP eligibility with a project-level BeZero rating

Global Cookstoves, the joint venture between Key Carbon and BURN, is helping scale access to clean cooking technologies across Africa while delivering high-integrity carbon credits. In Somalia, the GS12285 project is helping families transition from traditional charcoal stoves to cleaner, more efficient cooking appliances known as Jikokoas.

As the voluntary carbon market matures, buyers increasingly seek more than Core Carbon Principles (CCP) eligibility. They want independent evidence that projects deliver credible emissions reductions alongside meaningful social and environmental benefits. Global Cookstoves needed a way to demonstrate that the project was not only reducing emissions, but also creating measurable improvements for communities, forests, and household health that could be independently verified.

The BeZero rating helped position Global Cookstoves’ Somalia project for premium buyers seeking additional assurance beyond the carbon integrity signalled by CCP eligibility. By providing an independent, third-party assessment of project quality, the rating increased confidence in both the emissions reductions generated and the broader impact delivered.

As a result, the project attracted buyers looking for high-integrity credits with strong social and environmental co-benefits. Families benefit from cleaner and safer cooking, reduced exposure to indoor air pollution, and lower fuel consumption, while Global Cookstoves has strengthened its market differentiation through independently validated quality and impact.