ATEC Australia International Ltd

Bangladesh | Energy

Company

ATEC provides PAYG eCook stoves for the very lowest income customers, with GSM tracking of climate impact.

Problem

In Bangladesh, 65% of households still use biomass for cooking. The emissions and smoke inhalation resulting from dirty cooking methods cause multiple health issues, particularly for women. For households earning less than $10 a day, 1.5 days a month are spent collecting wood, while up to three hours a day are spent on household chores due to inefficient cooking.

Project

ATEC aims to use the latest GSMA grant to launch a mobile app and hardware infrastructure to pay incentives to women using carbon credits, based on their usage data. ATEC’s goal is to create behaviour change for users to transition from traditional cooking stoves to e-cook stoves, which should result in driving more usage and adoption.

In March 2022, the GSMA funded ATEC to develop and launch an Android mobile app integrated with eCook stoves. The app shows users real-time electricity usage data, payment status and any carbon offset data, enabling them to pay as little as $5 a month. The stove will also automatically mint Gold Standard-certified carbon credits. These credits can be sold to ATEC’s international corporate partners and on carbon markets. The benefits from the sale of carbon credits will be shared with users by subsidising their monthly instalments.

Impact

Since partnering with the GSMA, ATEC has:

– Onboarded an additional 4,754 eCook users by the end of the grant in September 2023, bringing the total number of eCook users to more than 6,000.

– Diverted 1,705 tonnes of carbon emissions during the grant period.

– Signed a purchase agreement with renewable energy company ENGIE for the purchase of 11.5 million tonnes of carbon credits.

Scaling journey

Timeline infographic for ATEC, a Bangladesh-based energy startup backed by ATEC Australia International Ltd. Highlights milestones from 2019 to 2024, featuring funding rounds including the GSMA Innovation Fund for Digital Urban Services, product launches, and strategic partnerships. Total raised: £5.6m.

A message from the founder/CEO

ATEC is accelerating the clean cooking solution with the most affordable Paygo technology, GSM connected eCook, that reaches underserved-unbanked-urban populations along with generating carbon credits through offsetting carbon emissions.”

– Ben Jeffreys, CEO

Founder and CEO
A portrait of a middle-aged man with short gray hair and a beard, wearing a black shirt, against a light gray background, sponsored by ATEC Australia International Ltd.

Ben Jeffreys

Team | 51–200 employees

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