Last Friday, the President of Malawi gave a speech at the High Level Dialogue on Energy at the UN (#HLDE2021). This, most likely, is the only address from any head of state at the UN, ever, focused on clean/er cooking.

His powerful speech and this video were written and produced by our last TIE team, the result of their TIE programme last month.

I think everyone on the team is still buzzing.

It’s not often your words are said by the president of a country.

And it’s not often you can be part of such an historical moment.

The message emphasises urgency, and the need for other countries to choose and transition to clean cooking.

TIE has been a very important part of Malawi’s journey to cleaner cooking, helping the country reach their goal of 2 million cleaner cookstoves by 2020.

As H.E Chakwera says: We have chosen to transition our population to clean cooking, to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

“This is an urgent matter for all of us, and we have made it an urgent matter for Malawi. We have chosen to promote cleaner biomass cookstoves as a solution through our energy compact, because these solutions save 2 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide per household each year”.

I am SO proud of what the team accomplished, and so proud that TIE was able to have been a part of this momentous meeting.

There is more where this came from.

Watch this space!

It’s time. Let’s change things!

xPhilippa