Blog
A Just Energy Transition and Climate Financing
According to the UN DESA, a just energy transition is defined as “enhancing human well-being, health, and capabilities, increase resilience and drive innovation towards a sustainable society at all levels” (UN DESA, 2021). Therefore, the goal is to not only successfully transition to greener energy but prevent or minimise any injustices along the journey, equity… Read the full article >
Solar Piped Water Systems: the future of rural water provision?
For decades the humble traditional borehole and handpump has been the staple option for rural water supply in much of sub-saharan Africa. Situated in the centre of a single community, these hand pumps can usually only serve around 300-400 people. But in the last 20 years or so, and certainly in the last 10 years,… Read the full article >
LSC takes place in Togo and makes the National Newspaper and TV news!
In May this year we held our first Local Stakeholder Consultation in Togo, for our new Safe Water Project. This project has been given the name ‘Wezou Lim’ meaning ‘Water is Life’ in Ewe, a local language widely spoken across Togo. By the end of 2023 we hope to have rehabilitated around 520 safe water… Read the full article >
Adapting to Water Stress Through Desalination
Water is the most valuable resource on our planet. However, if it wasn’t already before, its value is becoming even more apparent in our rapidly changing world. As a result of rising greenhouse gas emissions, our climate is becoming increasingly warm and more volatile which is having significant impacts on rainfall and water supplies. Higher… Read the full article >
Zambia Western Province Site Visits and Local Stakeholder Consultation
LOCAL STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATIONOur Western Zambia Safe Water Project recently completed its Local Stakeholder Consultation (LSC) event. The project has already been running for a couple of years, but due to COVID-19 restrictions in the country, the stakeholder event had been delayed and CO2balance had until now not had the opportunity to visit the project, meet… Read the full article >
Vital Mangrove Ecosystems in the Face of Our Climate Crisis
Mangroves are one of the most productive ecosystems in the world. Less attention is given to their protection compared to tropical rainforests and coral reefs, despite studies showing they experience higher rates of destruction1. This unique ecosystem of plants adapted to the extreme intertidal zone, plays an important role as a carbon sink through the… Read the full article >
The rural water access crisis impacting woman
On our recent fieldtrip to Togo to hold to LSC, we visited with a number of communities in the district of Keve to learn about their water access. We visited on village in particular, which took around 30 minutes to travel to from any significant settlement. Their handpump, located right in the centre of the… Read the full article >
Local Stakeholder Consultation in Burkina Faso
On the 19th of May, a local stakeholder consultation was held in the Nord region of Burkina Faso, where we have initiated a safe water project. These events are of extreme importance to us, as they provide an opportunity for horizontal communication with local stakeholders that may be directly or indirectly influenced by the project,… Read the full article >
Deforestation in Malawi: A Case Study
Whilst on a recent site visit to Malawi, I saw first hand the impacts of fuelwood stress, compounding the need for projects that reduce requirement for fuelwood. Having hiked up Michiru Mountain, through its wooded slopes and montane grasslands, I could see back across Blantyre, Malawi’s second largest city. Looking away from the city, villages… Read the full article >
Local Stakeholder Consultation in Gash-Barka Region, Eritrea
On the 23rd of March 2022, a successful Local Stakeholder Consultation took place in Barentu City, Eritrea which marked the launch of a new safe water project in the Bash-Barka region. The project is in partnership with the Irish NGO Vita and aims to rehabilitate more than 100 boreholes in the region, to supply clean… Read the full article >
Uganda Safe Water Project Audits: reviewing the status of our projects
CO2balance projects are renowned for being high impact, transparent, and genuinely benefitting the communities. Therefore, to continue generating high quality carbon credits through our carbon projects, we have a duty to visit our existing projects to inspect their functionality and evaluative if improvements are required. As development in safe water and cooking technologies progresses in… Read the full article >
First Togo Borehole Rehabilitations!
We are very pleased to announce that over the past few weeks the first 2 borehole rehabilitations for our Togo Safe Water Project have been completed, a huge and exciting milestone for this project! Amie and I are currently in Togo representing CO2balance and were able to visit the boreholes shortly after they were rehabilitated… Read the full article >
East African Drought Crisis..
The East African region is set to face its worst drought period since 1981 and the countries that will be mainly affected are Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. A drought is when lower-than-normal rainfall extends across multiple rainy seasons or years. The expected impacts of the drought include: – 13 million people to face food insecurity– Up… Read the full article >
Improving WASH practices in Uganda through education and knowledge sharing
In February 2022, CO2balance actioned their plan to improve on their existing Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) activities in communities that collect safe water from CO2balance operated boreholes. The aim is to improve WASH practices at both the borehole and within households, decreasing the risk of water users becoming ill from contaminated water or poor… Read the full article >
World Health Day 2022
Yesterday (7 April 2022), WHO celebrated World Health day focusing on ‘Our Planet, Our Health’. This year, WHO are promoting attention on urgent actions required keep the planet healthy, and guide societies to focus on well-being as well as a green, clean economy. WHO estimates that 13 million deaths a year are attributable to avoidable… Read the full article >