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| [January 31, 2013] |
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OPIC & GE Finance Clean Cookstove Project in East Africa
WASHINGTON --(Business Wire)--
The Overseas
Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. Government's
development finance institution, is partnering with GE
to finance a clean cookstove manufacturing project that will have a
lasting developmental impact on both human health and the environment in
East Africa. Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton announced the project at a State Department
ceremony today.
Exposure to smoke from traditional cookstoves and open fires is one of
the World
Health Organization's top five threats to public health in
developing countries, resulting in approximately four million premature
deaths each year and causing a multitude of chronic illnesses and acute
health problems such as pneumonia, emphysema, cataracts, lung cancer,
and cardiovascular disease. Women and young children are most at risk.
Replacing traditional cookstoves and open fires with high efficiency
stoves improves health, reduces carbon emissions, slows deforestation,
and lowers fuel costs.
BURN
Manufacturing Co. (BMC), the project's U.S. sponsor, will use a $3
million loan from OPIC and $1 million in financng from GE to establish
a clean cookstove manufacturing facility in Kenya with satellite
assembly plants in Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The stoves will be sold
to a variety of entities, including carbon asset developers and aid
organizations. BMC will create over 200 manufacturing jobs in East
Africa and more than 20 design and manufacturing jobs in Washington
State. BMC's goal is to manufacture and sell 3.6 million clean
cookstoves in East Africa by 2020.
"Clean cookstoves are a relatively simple technology capable of having a
far-reaching, positive impact on both human health and the environment.
Thousands of people in East Africa will enjoy healthier lives thanks to
this innovative project, the result of an outstanding partnership
between BURN Manufacturing, GE and OPIC," said OPIC President and CEO
Elizabeth Littlefield.
Deb Frodl, executive director of ecomagination, GE said, "According to
the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, nearly half the world's
population - three billion people - burn wood, dung and other biomass in
open fires or rudimentary stoves as a source of heat and to prepare
meals. We are proud to partner with BURN Manufacturing and OPIC to
increase access to cleaner, more efficient cookstoves to help reduce
environmental impact and improve the health of people around the world."
"This project is the culmination of my lifelong vision - a vision that I
share with Secretary Clinton and the UN Global Alliance for Clean
Cookstoves - to reduce deforestation and indoor air pollution in the
developing world," said CEO and Founder Peter Scott. "Today, through
this partnership, we have an incredible opportunity to help realize this
vision by locally manufacturing millions of high quality cookstoves in
East Africa. Over the next ten years alone, we will transform the lives
of more than 10 million people by reducing annual household fuel costs
by up to $250, reducing indoor air pollution by up to 90 percent, and
reducing deforestation by preserving more than 100 million trees."
In September 2010, Secretary Clinton announced the launch of the Global
Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, a public-private partnership led by
the United
Nations Foundation. OPIC has committed to provide up to $50 million
to the Alliance, which seeks to enable 100 million households to adopt
clean and efficient stoves and fuels by 2020. OPIC's commitment is
nearly half of the $114 million now pledged to the Alliance.
OPIC is the U.S. Government's development finance institution. It
mobilizes private capital to help solve critical development challenges
and in doing so, advances U.S. foreign policy. Because OPIC works with
the U.S. private sector, it helps U.S. businesses gain footholds in
emerging markets catalyzing revenues, jobs and growth opportunities both
at home and abroad. OPIC achieves its mission by providing investors
with financing, guarantees, political risk insurance, and support for
private equity investment funds.
Established as an agency of the U.S. Government in 1971, OPIC operates
on a self-sustaining basis at no net cost to American taxpayers. OPIC
services are available for new and expanding business enterprises in
more than 150 countries worldwide. To date, OPIC has supported more than
$200 billion of investment in over 4,000 projects, generated an
estimated $75 billion in U.S. exports and supported more than 277,000
American jobs.
About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter. The best people and the best
technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in
energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering,
moving and curing the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works. For
more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.
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