Assessment on Responsible Business Conduct (RBC)

The use of clean cooking fuels and technologies in homes is referred to as "clean cooking." According to a 2021 energy progress report, in South Asia, clean cooking access is the lowest in Bangladesh. Approximately 94% of rural Bangladeshi households cook and heat using solid fuels like wood, coal, and animal dung (DHSPROGRAM, 2019). The usage of such polluting fuels contributes to household air pollution, leading to respiratory illnesses, heart problems, and even premature death (The Business Standard, 2023). Home air pollution disproportionately affects women and children because of their higher exposure levels and the fact that they frequently spend a large portion of the day gathering fuel (firewood, for example) needed to cook a meal. Burning solid fuels in homes contributes up to 58% of the world's emissions of black carbon and a gigaton of carbon dioxide annually, approximately 2% of all emissions (World Bank, 2019).

To address this challenge, The Government of Bangladesh has targeted making all kitchens smoke-free by 2030 (SREDA, 2019). Clean Cooking Scale Up (CCSU) project – a joint project of iDE Bangladesh and ATEC will explore solution for the problem. The business owners of the clean cooking sector are important stakeholders who have strong, easily accessible clean cookstove supply chain in rural areas. As the sector is expected to be transformed through policy and business innovations, therefore business owners need to be capacitated on diverse ethical issues. Thus, an assessment on Responsible Business Conduct (RBC) has been initiated. The assessment aims to lead (i) an assessment on existing policies, guidelines and practices, (ii) Identify risk areas in RBC in the value chain and mitigation measures, and (iii) Conduct training and capacity development of staff members.