The production and trade in charcoal has been a massive rural growth industry over the past decade in Sierra Leone. Many people consider charcoal a relatively modern fuel when burn on the modern stoves. Notwithstanding its popularity, the charcoal and cookstoves sub-sector remains informal, unregulated, and fragmented, plagued by inefficient production system relying on non-renewable sources supported by incoherent and often conflicting policy statements. UNDP aims to bring economic, social and environmental benefits through the production of certified charcoal from sustainably sourced feedstock and through the promotion of improved cookstoves to reduce fuel wood demand, improve health and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

Almost the 50% of the population of Pakistan do not have access to clean fuels and technologies for cooking. This is even higher in rural areas, such as the Northern region of the country, where most of the people still use wood as fuel for cooking with consequences for the health, the environment and woman empowerment. Funded by the Global Environment Fund (GEF), UNDP's project Promotion of Energy Efficient Cooking, Heating and Housing Technologies (PEECH) enabled a reduction in the uses of biomass for energy purpose in the Northern Areas and Chitral in Pakistan, and an improvement households’ economies and health through efficient use of energy products, together with reduced emissions and air pollution. 

In Peru, the GEF-funded project e-Mujer, an energy school for women, trains women to become clean energy entrepreneurs by teaching them to install, maintain and commercialize solar panels and improved cookstoves.