Association pour le Développement de l’Energie Solaire Suisse (ADES) works in Madagascar to provide environmentally friendly cookstoves while also alleviating the extreme poverty of the communities they work in.

ADES worked with Malagasy households to design the cookstoves to ensure that the stoves are not just better for the environment, but also useful. The fuel-efficient cookstoves reduce fuel consumption by 50% to 70% while its solar cookstoves eliminate the need for fuel completely.

In addition to reducing demand for wood fuel, ADES has planted 1,300,000 firewood, timber, and fruit trees since 2014, restoring 544 hectares of forest. ADES works with village leaders to determine a mix of trees that provide nutrition and value during reforestation.

ADES estimates that its solar and fuel-efficient cookstoves have saved over 3 million tons of wood and prevented the emission of over 4 million tons of CO2.

Beyond their environmental impacts, ADES stoves save their owners money and create jobs. Using an ADES stove saves its owners at least 50% of the cost of fuel and allows them to spend less time collecting firewood for fuel, which they can use for income generation and other activities.[1]

The organization directly employs 250 people who receive health benefits and tuition fees for their children. ADES has also trained another 233 people as independent resellers, 70% of whom are women who live in rural villages with few job opportunities.

Learn more at https://ades-solaire.org/en/

In Cameroon, BleagLee fights pollution and waste through creating jobs. Seacology works around the world to conserve island ecosystems while benefiting communities socioeconomically.