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Get out of her kitchen: A feminist critique of voluntary carbon markets for cookstoves in India

delete2026-08-06
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PRE
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M
Meena Khandelwal *
DOI：10.1016/j.erss.2026.104883delete
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Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
Biomass-burning mud stoves used worldwide are targeted for intervention because of their association with air pollution, deforestation, energy scarcity, greenhouse gas emissions, and harm to women. In India, emerging carbon markets and the 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals revitalized longstanding stove improvement efforts. This essay examines the role of carbon offsets for improved cookstoves on the voluntary market. Despite criticisms of carbon credits on the basis of effectiveness and social justice, cookstoves have the reputation of being among the more promising type of offset projects. Are offsets the solution for cookstoves? This study draws from three methodological and theoretical approaches to argue against cookstove offsets for India: ethnographic holism; subaltern feminism; theories of quantification from anthropology and science studies. Ethnographic field research in India demonstrates both the ubiquity of stove stacking and the challenge of measuring it as required to generate offsets. It further suggests that traditional stoves support women's control over a technology necessary for daily life, which explains the persistence of old stoves. Moreover, the metrification of cookstove improvement raises ethical questions. Carbon offset trading financializes carbon emission reductions and prioritizes accurate measurement above other considerations. This paper argues that carbon offsets do not align with goals of subaltern feminist energy production, distribution, and use. Beyond cookstoves, this paper calls for genuine engagement with participants in the design of solutions, recognition of traditional knowledge in the pursuit of global environment goals, and explicit acknowledgement that technical solutions offered to, or imposed on, marginalized communities are never neutral.

Journal

E
Energy Research & Social Science
IF:
7.4
Papers:
376
Citations:
0

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No organization information available