It has the very ambitious goal of delivering renewable energy to 15 million people in the next five years, while fighting poverty by empowering developing world entrepreneurs through microloans.
In the case of Kiva, lenders provide funds with zero return expected to developing world entrepreneurs to invest in their businesses (typical loans are for things like seeds for farming).
Hugh Whalan, who co-founded the organisation in 2009, left EIC in July 2011 to start a for-profit solar distribution and lending business in Ghana.
Energy in Common announced on its Facebook page on September 19, 2013 that all lending activities had been suspended and that loan recovery from delinquent borrowers were underway.
Biodegesters thus produce renewable energy, cut down on odors and pathogens in organic materials, reduce surface and groundwater contamination, improve indoor air quality and provide a source of high quality organic fertilizer as a byproduct—that has been shown to improve crop yields and decrease fertilizer costs.
This is somewhat controversial as currently this allows for economic savings although clearly there is a potential to have negative effects of becoming dependent on a non-renewable energy source, which in many cases needs to be imported.
Both types of clean burning stoves reduce the costs associated with fuel use and improve the indoor air quality within the homes of the users.
[11] They do this by providing a detailed questionnaires before, during and after the loan, and in-depth field surveys conducted by both by EIC and independent auditing firms in order to sell the carbon offsets.