How clean cooking has ‘moved to the top of the energy agenda’

Clean cooking’s prospects are better than ever, as governments and companies see the economic as well as human potential.

Momentum on clean cooking solutions has built at key events in the energy and sustainable development calendar over the past year. These include the inaugural Africa Climate Summit and COP28 in Dubai, where the hosts put great emphasis on decarbonising food systems and representatives from 26 countries launched the African Women Clean Cooking Support Programme, which aims to provide clean cooking equipment to 250 million women by 2030.

“Clean cooking solutions is a great example of where different Africa-focused organisations have managed to leverage the COP agenda to shine a light on a critical issue we have actually known about for decades,” says Paul Walton, director of the Africa-Europe Foundation. “As a result, clean cooking is finally getting the attention it needs from Europe and other wealthy actors, and in 2024 we expect to see major movement in terms of financial investment.”

The release of a special report on clean cooking from the IEA in 2023 has also mapped out for the world’s policymakers just what decarbonising cooking looks like.