- IFC, the private sector financing arm of the World Bank Group, lends €16.2 million to Zener in Togo.
- The company distributes clean cooking kits based on LPG.
The International Finance Corporation has approved €16.2 million to assist in providing clean cooking solutions in Togo. The funding is meant to assist Zener’s work, which involves giving Togolese households access to improved cooking systems.
Its solution is based on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a fuel produced during refining crude oil and, more broadly, during processing natural gas. According to the French automaker Renault, LPG, which is often used as fuel, releases on average 15% less CO2 than gasoline, almost no fine particles (unlike diesel and petrol), and minimal nitrogen oxide (as much as gasoline, but 13 times less than diesel).
The IFC claims that replacing wood or coal with LPG reduces CO2 emissions by half while replacing fuel oil or paraffin with LPG reduces emissions by around a third. LPG is thus an alternative for Togolian homes. In this West African nation, 90% of the people utilize biomass as their primary source of energy for cooking, which results in significant deforestation, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and adverse health impacts from indoor air pollution, especially for women and children.
With the help of the IFC financing, Zener intends to add 3,600 tons to its LPG storage terminals and equip five upcoming filling stations with solar kits and LPG cylinder exchange stations.