Authors: Pietro Battiston – Istituto Superiore Sant’Anna, Italy; Jaimie Bleck – University of Notre Dame, IN, US; Jacopo Bonan – Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and Lab Expo, Fondazione Feltrinelli, Italy; Philippe LeMay-Boucher – Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, UK; Stefano Pareglio – Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy; Bassirou Sarr – Paris School of Economics, France; Massimo Tavoni – Politecnico di Milano and FEEM, Italy

We investigates the issue of energy poverty and access to more efficient cookstoves in Mali, where 95% of urban population uses solid fuels for cooking through traditional inefficient technologies with likely adverse consequences on health and fuel expenditure. We use a Randomized Control Trial (RCT) to shed light on the role of information about the existence and advantages of an improved charcoal cookstove which is locally produced on its purchase. We also explore to what extent social networks and peer effects influence the decision to adopt such product. Upon completion, the research project will allow to evaluate the long-term effects of purchase and usage of improved cookstoves on women’s time allocation and health conditions, household fuel expenditure and saving.