India: Women Entrepreneurs in Bihar Help Improve Air Quality through Cleaner Cookstoves

blogs.worldbank.org

As part of the vast Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), the Indian state of Bihar is impacted heavily by air pollution. Smoke from wood and cow dung burning cookstoves contributes significantly to the problem. Although Bihar, one of India’s poorest states, has seen a significant rise in the use of cleaner cooking fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and biogas – from 8.4% in 2011 to 37.8% in 2019-21 – many poor households continue to use wood and cow dung to light their family stoves. The smoke emitted by these cookstoves not only chokes the users, affecting the health of women and children, but also contributes 40 percent to Bihar’s high levels of ambient air pollution, amongst the highest sources of such pollution in the state. Read More