Practical Action was founded in 1966, as ITDG (the Intermediate Technology Development Group), by the radical economist Dr EF Schumacher to prove that his philosophy of ‘Small is Beautiful’ could bring real and sustainable improvements to people’s lives.

GERES was founded in 1976 by French engineers and academics. It is a not-for-profit organisation with a remit to alleviate poverty using renewable energy. 

Broad Benefits
CLEVEL projects are run with international partners to deliver real carbon reductions and broader social and ecological benefits. We do not invest in projects that simply reduce carbon.  All projects are also designed to lead to real additional changes. In other words, projects are designed to achieve CO2 and other benefits that would simply not perform without CLEVEL and our customers and clients investment.  This additionality is key and applies where funding covers the majority of the project and is not just riding on existing plans and investments. In short CLEVEL projects represent:

• high quality delivered with established partners 
  
• outstanding local benefits as well as carbon reductions
  
• real world additional benefits as a direct result of our Carbon Balancing

Awareness Raising
As well as offering projects that provide carbon compensation for the footprints of our customers and clients, we also recognise the importance of smaller projects that can significantly raise awareness on climate change and low carbon lifestyles. These may generate CO2 savings, but not in ways we can account for to deliver high quality carbon compensation. For example, in the UK, we have worked with the Institute of Development Studies to raise awareness on wind power with local children. The project involved the installation of small scale wind turbines on local primary schools, providing educational resources on climate change and energy use.  Our other big awareness raising projects are zero carbon builds.

CLEVEL carbon reduction is delivered through an efficient stoves projects in Cambodia and Kenya.  

The GERES project is verified for carbon reduction by the global accreditation foundation DNV.  90 % of the Cambodian population depend daily on fuel-wood for cooking purposes. This dependency has increased considerably in recent years. As a consequence, forest resources are seriously threatened. The objective of the project is to reduce charcoal and thereby fuel wood consumption by introducing improved Lao cook stoves in Cambodia.

Apart from avoiding CO2 emissions by reduced wood and charcoal consumption, the project contributes to Sustainable Development in many ways. All three aspects of sustainability are promoted; the environmental, the social and the economic side. As far as environmental sustainability is concerned, the major gain is the avoidance of overexploitation of the forests. Thus the forest resources are protected and biodiversity is conserved. An improvement in social sustainability is achieved  through reductions in smoke, ime saved in collecting fuel and improved access to energy for the poorer members of the community.

Finally, lack of economic sustainability is tackled. Firewood supply costs are reduced, small-scale businesses such as stove producers and retailers are consolidated, and in some cases jobs are created.  GERES Cambodia has recently formed an alliance of organisations to ensure great access to carbon finance and a better deal for grass roots projects. 

The UPESI Stoves Project in Kenya is delivering cash savings and health benefits to thousands of families in western kenya.  The project is a joinh initiative between CLEVEL and Practical Action. The project concentrates on cooking stoves made by pottery cooperatives, that reduce fuelwood use and indoor smoke pollution. 

Practical Action aims to demonstrate and advocate the sustainable use of technology to reduce poverty.  They are also running programmes specifically to assist those most affected by climate change impact in the majority world.

In many countries in Africa the main source of fuel for cooking is wood, burnt on an open fire. This causes excessive smoke and a massive health problem, particularly for women and children who spend more time in the kitchens.  It is a key global health issue identified as a priority for action by the World Health Organisation. 

A lack of enclosure around the fire and a lack of mass to store heat makes open fire cooking inefficient, with more wood being burnt.  Wood is a limited resource and is becoming harder to collect, more costly to buy and is linked to regional deforestation. 

The project’s upesi stoves are simple but effective and replace traditional cooking on rocks. Reduced CO2 emissions from burning and reduced pressure on remaining forests are key benefits, but the project is also tailored to reach people who would not otherwise buy and install these stoves.  This is being achieved by distributing the new stoves to vulnerable groups facing extreme poverty in the stove making areas.  This, combined with CLEVEL funding, is achieving the projects strong additionality.