Swedish Energy Agency has committed itself to acquiring Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) from eight Clean Development Mechanism programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to the Agency's latest press release. The programmes are implemented in both urban and rural areas in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Malawi, Nigeria, Togo, Uganda and Zambia. The programmes will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by at least four million tons until 2020 by reducing the use of non-renewable biomass, the agency claimed. More than half a million improved cookstoves will be distributed in order to achieve the emission reductions. Through this ambitious effort Sweden is making the technology reaching up to 2 million households across Africa. "The idea behind the improved cookstove programmes is to allow the users of the stoves to save around 50 percent of wood or charcoal, used as fuel in the stoves, by introducing simple low cost cookstoves with vastly improved efficiency compared to traditional methods of cooking", said Christian Sommer, Programme Manager at the Agency. "In addition to the environmental and health benefits reduced fuel consumption also leads to improved household economy by reducing expenditure on fuel and by freeing up time that women and children spend on collecting firewood", Sommer said. The Swedish Energy Agency has been responsible for the Swedish governmental CDM programme for over a decade. The Swedish Energy Agency participates in over 80 CDM and Joint Implementation projects in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe as well as in a number of multilateral funds.