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Study: Phasing Out Cookstoves 'Win-Win' for Climate and Health

Replacing traditional wood and coal-burning cookstoves with cleaner technology could trim nearly a tenth of a degree from global temperature and save more than 10 million lives by 2050.

This is according to a new study that looks at the benefits for climate and human health of reducing emissions from cookstoves in more than 100 countries worldwide.

The authors, from the University of Colorado and Dalhousie University in Canada, published their findings in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Over 3 billion people – around two fifths of the world’s population – cook their food on open fires using solid fuels like wood, animal dung, coal and biomass as fuel.

This traditional way of cooking releases methane and CO2, both potent greenhouse gases. Past studies suggest burning wood fuel is responsible for approximately 2% of global CO2 emissions.

Russ Keyte

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