Carbon Credits: How One Company’s Plan To Help The Planet Went Off The Rails

"C-Quest Capital claimed it could improve people’s lives in Africa with cleaner cookstoves. But an investigation by The Post shows it promised more than it could deliver."

"SANSÃO MUTHEMBA, Mozambique — The simple stoves were being shipped out across Africa by the millions, and few people here saw the downside. The stoves were free. They were pitched as an upgrade to the charcoal grill and wood campfire cooking methods in the area. And they promised solutions to the massive problems of deforestation and smoke pollution.

But as the stoves were handed out in this part of Mozambique in 2021, Victoria Jose Arriscado said she was struck by how cheap they looked — just a few metal parts atop clay bricks and mud.

When she used it, her home filled with smoke, and her eyes teared up.

“This is clearly not the best they could do,” Arriscado, 43, remembered thinking."

Chico Harlan reports for the Washington Post September 1, 2024.

 

Source: Washington Post, 09/03/2024