OPINION: Carbon Credits Are Only as Credible as the Data Behind Them

Clean cooking carbon credit projects address one of the most persistent energy challenges in the world. According to the World Health Organisation, over 2.1 billion people globally use polluting fuels and technologies for cooking, putting their health and well-being at risk. Carbon credits offer the financial mechanism that makes clean cooking technologies affordable and accessible to the households that need it most. 

For years, carbon credits have been generated using methodologies that were appropriate for their time: field surveys, laboratory testing, and statistical extrapolation from small population samples. However, as carbon markets matured, the credibility and transparency of the impact and real usage in clean cooking projects became difficult to justify. 

The consequences are now impossible to ignore. Projects have collapsed because of increased scrutiny. Governments have questioned the integrity of credits issued in their countries. Buyers are demanding stronger evidence before investing and households across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia who depend on subsidised clean cooking technologies are being abandoned. 

Now, the future of carbon markets is about the technologies capable of delivering continuous, verifiable evidence rather than methodologies. Carbon markets are no longer asking whether projects reduce emissions but whether those reductions are accurate and verifiable. 

Clean cooking project developers are now required to have an independently verifiable record of real household usage and technology to make this possible. Using connected devices, IoT infrastructure and digital Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (dMRV) technologies, companies can continuously record stove usage, transmit data securely and verify emission reductions in real time. 

The market feels the shift. In May 2026, Gold Standard updated four clean cooking and thermal energy methodologies. One was Metered and Measured Energy Cooking Devices Methodology Version 2.0 (MECD V2.0) that requires distributed cooking devices to continuously measure energy consumption or demonstrate equivalent monitored fuel use through verifiable records. It also introduces a Downward Adjustment Factor aligned with host country net-zero pathways, ensuring that baselines become more conservative over time instead of remaining static. 

The technology required to meet this standard already exists. Companies like ATEC are delivering high-efficiency IoT enabled induction cookers using dMRV technology to enable continuous energy metering and real-time data transmission through global SIM connectivity. Every cooking event is measured, securely transmitted and independently verified. For more than 7 years ATEC’s projects have been generating fully auditable emission reductions under Article 6. 

In 2026, ATEC became the first cookstove project developer to issue fully digitised carbon credits under Gold Standard using 100% digital Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (dMRV), with records traceable on the Hedera Guardian public ledger.

Host countries are also raising the bar. 

At the recently concluded SB64 in Bonn, Kenya announced that it has excluded clean cooking projects from its whitelist. This is a strategic guide formulated to identify approved Article 6 mitigation activities eligible for international carbon trading under the Paris Agreement in the country by 2030. The country cited lack of enough data and the confidence needed to provide a corresponding adjustment. 

For a country where biomass cooking remains a dominant energy source for the majority of households, this exclusion shows a loss of confidence in the credibility and integrity of the credits and the transparency of the measurement behind them. 

Clean cooking project developers without a Letter of Authorisation from the host countries, internationally transferable credits under Article 6 cannot be issued. This directly affects the carbon finance that helps make clean cooking technologies affordable for low-income households. 

Technology now has implications far beyond compliance. It determines whether projects can participate in international carbon markets, whether buyers retain confidence in the credits they purchase and whether households continue to benefit from carbon-financed clean cooking solutions. 

The technology to generate credits to this standard exists. Companies like ATEC deliver high-efficiency IoT-induction cookstoves and use dMRV technology that support continuous energy metering and real-time data transmission via global SIM cards. This setup enables 100% data-auditable emission reductions under Article 6.2. 

Host countries are now making eligibility decisions based on whether clean cooking projects can demonstrate credible, verifiable impact. Companies like ATEC show that clean cooking data can be continuously tracked, metered, and 100% verifiable in real-time. 

Carbon markets have entered a new phase. The debate is no longer about whether digital measurement is possible. It is about whether project developers are willing to invest in the infrastructure needed to deliver it. 

Projects built on assumptions will increasingly struggle to meet the expectations of governments, standards and carbon buyers. Projects built on continuous, transparent and independently verifiable data will define the future of the market. Technology is no longer an operational advantage within carbon markets. It has become an integral part of market integrity.

Bhushan Trivedi is the Chief Carbon Officer at ATEC.

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