Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves

The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves is a non-profit organization operating under the support of the United Nations Foundation. Their work focuses on improving health and environment through encouraging changes in cooking methods and types of stoves used in developing countries to pollute less and reduce indoor air pollution. According to the World Health Organization, 4.3 million people a year die from health problems attributable to exposure to smoke from solid fuel stoves. The Alliance was founded in 2010 by then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

They also provide grants for research and initiatives that support the aims of the Alliance, advocate for international standards for stove manufacturers and coordinate research and knowledge of the issues surrounding the use of clean cookstoves. The organization is supported by governments, corporations, foundations, civil society, investors, and individuals..

The Chinese Government introduced 129 million "improved" stoves to several rural areas in China over a period of a decade. Up to two thirds of the stoves introduced are still in use today. The cook stoves mainly used wood or crop residue for fuel, although many residents of Northern areas received cooking/space-heating stoves. This was heralded as an extraordinary success in that, according to reports produced by the Chinese National Improved Stove Program, more than 50% of people living in rural areas had improved stoves installed.

United States celebrity, actress Julia Roberts is a high-profile supporter and champion of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. She is reported to have learned of the organisation while filming an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show. Given the incredibly high value of her celebrity endorsement and time spent on the project, she has added tens of thousands of dollars worth of free advocacy for the Alliance.

Other celebrity endorsers include China's Zhao Wei, Ghana's Rocky Dawuni and Stephen Appiah.