OXFORD, England, October 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

In 10 years ClimateCare has funded improved cookstoves for over 6.5 million people helping tackle one of the developing world's leading causes of death. Today it calls for more partners to meet its 2020 targets - to improve 20 million lives and cut 20 million tonnes of CO_2.

     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141029/713307 )

Improved cookstoves reduce indoor air pollution - one of the developing world's biggest killers, cut fuel costs for families and help tackle climate change. Today, 10 years since ClimateCare pioneered the first ever improved cookstove project funded by carbon finance, it announced that with its corporate and public sector partners it has channelled finance into cookstove projects around the world, improving life for 6.5 million people and cutting 2.6 million tonnes of CO_2.

ClimateCare also published ambitious targets to cut 20 million tonnes of CO₂ and improve the lives of 20 million people by 2020 - calling for more Corporate and Government partners to fund cookstove and other integrated Climate+Care programmes.

"Everything we do is designed to tackle climate change, alleviate poverty and improve health," explains CEO Edward Hanrahan. "Provision of improved cookstoves is a great example of an intervention that delivers against all three elements, and in particular improves life for women and girls. We have delivered a huge amount, in partnership with our pioneering corporate partners, but are really only scratching the surface of the issue with these numbers. So, in pursuit of our ambitious 2020 targets, we call on other corporate and government partners to help us scale up investment in cookstove projects alongside the other Climate+Care programmes we specialise in including safe water provision, irrigation and clean energy access."

Supporters of cookstove projects include Jaguar Land Rover, who funded the first ever Gold Standard cookstove project through ClimateCare, and who have helped provide stoves to 832,000 families. The Co-operative and Aviva have also made significant contributions helping to fund stoves to 350,000 and 57,000 families respectively.

Nearly 3 billion people in the developing world still cook food and heat their homes with traditional cookstoves or open fires. The Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 estimates 4 million premature deaths are caused every year from exposure to smoke from these cooking methods - more than HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis combined. The impacts are particularly pronounced for women and girls.

Use the ClimateCare calculator to see how your business could make a difference http://climatecare.org/our-vision/

Contact: rhiannon.szmigielski@climatecare.org, +44(0)1865-591000

SOURCE ClimateCare