Koko ends a decade of clean cooking in Kenya overnight

In Kenya, the Associated Press reports that consumers are reeling in the face of the sudden demise of Koko that supplied ethanol for clean cooking fuel for the past decade, leaving many in the lurch as their livelihoods are suddenly at risk. Koko was hit in 2023 when the Kenyan government denied its import permits for ethanol, forcing it to rely on more expensive and unstable domestic production, but last week the government denied an approval that was required to sell carbon credits on the international market, putting the final nail in the company’s coffin. It literally closed overnight, impacting its 1.5 million consumers—many of whom can’t afford liquid petroleum gas for cooking or don’t wish to go back to polluting charcoal stoves—in addition to its extensive network of employees that stocked dispensers across the country.