BURN Carbon Project in DRC Receives Top MSCI Rating for High-Integrity and Impact

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – 1st August 2025: BURN, Africa’s leading clean cookstove manufacturer, distributor, and carbon project developer, is proud to announce that its biomass carbon project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has received an “A” rating from MSCI ESG Research LLC, a global leader in ESG and climate research.

MSCI recognized BURN for its strong performance across six key criteria which include: additionality, quantification, permanence, co-benefits, reputational risk, and delivery risk. This high rating highlights BURN’s project credibility, integrity, and long-term impact. MSCI’s Carbon Project Ratings are widely used by companies, investors, traders, and carbon project developers globally as trusted benchmarks to assess project risk and guide impactful carbon credit investments.

Chris McKinney, Chief Commercial Officer, BURN said: “Receiving a high rating on the MSCI board is a strong confirmation of the integrity and impact of our carbon projects in households across DRC. At BURN, we don’t just issue carbon credits—we develop projects that save lives and protect forests. We know that with carbon credits - and carbon credit pre-financing - we could finally bring a clean cooking appliance to every household in DRC, by discounting the cost of a stove to a customer by 60-100%. We’re honored that MSCI’s independent assessment affirms the strength of our approach and its long-term value for households in the DRC.”

BURN launched its operations in DRC in 2017 and officially opened a representative office in Kinshasa in 2022 and has successfully distributed over 160,000 energy-efficient cooking appliances, impacting over 840,000 lives. To date, the company has saved ~1.2 million tonnes of wood, preventing 2.8 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions, ~161 million hours saved on cooking and generating ~US$112 million in household savings. BURN aims to scale its impact to reach 6 million households across the country.

BURN’s stoves have been independently validated by institutions including the University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, and Yunus Social Business, consistently proving their impact on health, climate, and household savings. Customers can save up between 40-60% on fuel when measured against the baseline – the equivalent of ~US$119 per year per family – and that each cookstove reduced CO2 emissions by ~3.5 tons per year.

BURN’s biomass projects in DRC generate the highest integrity carbon credits using Gold Standard’s TPDDTEC methodology, which has been approved by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market's "CCP" programme. As a project developer, BURN is aligned with Gold Standard, ICVCM best practices, and applies rigorous monitoring approaches such as Kitchen Performance Tests (KPTs) that ensure real, measurable, and verifiable impact.

Several of BURN’s other projects have also been rated by MSCI, with strong results placing them in the top quartile; these include BBB ratings for projects in Somalia, Kenya and Côte d'Ivoire as well as BB ratings for multiple Kenya-based projects reflecting consistent performance, credibility, integrity, and long-term impact to communities. 

To date, BURN has distributed ~5.4 million biomass, LPG, and electric cooking appliances across Africa, including its award-winning, cellular-enabled ECOA Induction Cooker. These appliances have improved the lives of ~28 million people while reducing household fuel costs by US$1.8 billion, indoor air pollution by 65-100%, and protecting forests by saving over 29.6M tons of wood.

ABOUT BURN  

 Founded in 2011, BURN was created to save forests by revolutionizing the cookstove sector. BURN launched its operations in DRC in 2017 and officially opened a representative office in Kinshasa in 2022 and has successfully distributed over 160,000 energy-efficient cooking appliances, impacting over 840,000 lives. While traditional, inefficient cookstoves can bankrupt families, damage their health, and destroy forests, BURN’s best-in-class stoves can save families money on fuel, limit indoor air pollution, and protect forests. BURN is now the world’s leading clean cooking company and one of the only carbon project developers to cover the full carbon value chain, from project design and in-house monitoring to credit issuance. To date, BURN's efficient stoves have generated 9.5M Gold Standard credits, reduced indoor air pollution by 65-100%, and protected forests by saving over 29.6 M tons of wood.

Learn more at burnstoves.com.