The UN's Article 6.4 Supervisory Body approved new rules for clean cooking carbon credits in October 2026. Projects that distribute efficient wood or charcoal stoves, or support switching to electric or LPG cooking, must now place a share of their credits into a reserve pool. That pool covers the risk that forest carbon savings from reduced fuelwood use are later reversed by wildfires, drought, logging, or land clearing. Under the default human-caused forest-loss risk rate, projects set aside 20% of credits. Countries can lower that to as little as 9% if they have forest emissions-reduction plans, long-term climate strategies, and REDD+ frameworks. The reserve is meant to protect credit integrity, but it also cuts the number of credits developers can sell, which may affect project revenue. The rules arrive as cookstove credits face scrutiny over over-crediting. In October 2026, 130 civil society groups asked for a pause on credits from the first Article 6.4 clean cooking project in Myanmar, citing concerns about emissions calculations, verification, and community safeguards. The reserve addresses forest-loss risk but does not fully resolve those broader integrity questions.
