Nepal’s biogas initiative gets major funding boost

A project that is bringing clean, efficient energy to rural communities in Nepal received a major boost this month in the form of a deal that rewards it for reducing the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The Nepal Biogas Project promotes the use of underground ‘digesters’ that use bacteria to generate methane gas from cattle dung. Using methane instead of wood or kerosene to power stoves or lamps can reduce a household’s greenhouse gas emissions by five tonnes a year.

Under an agreement signed on 3 May, the World Bank’s Community Development Carbon Fund will pay Nepal to reduce its emissions by one million tonnes over the next seven years by increasing the use of biogas units.

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