Africa has set an ambitious but achievable target: universal access to clean cooking by 2040. This transition from traditional fuels like wood, charcoal, and animal dung to modern, clean energy solutions, such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), bioethanol, electric stoves, and improved biomass cookstoves, would save millions of lives, improve women’s empowerment, cut greenhouse gas emissions, and unleash economic development.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), reaching this target will require $37 billion in cumulative investment, less than 0.1% of annual global energy spending, and must accelerate current efforts by a factor of seven. The goal is to reach 80 million people per year, ensuring urban areas achieve full access by 2035, followed by rural areas by 2040.
The clean cooking crisis is not just about fuel, it’s a public health, climate, and development emergency. Today, over 900 million Africans still rely on traditional biomass fuels. These fuels contribute to indoor air pollution, which causes an estimated 815,000 premature deaths annually in sub-Saharan Africa. Women and girls, who are often responsible for cooking and fuel collection, bear the brunt of these impacts.
Achieving universal access could prevent 4.7 million premature deaths by 2040, mostly among women and children. It would also allow women and girls to reclaim up to 2 hours per day, which can be redirected toward income-generating activities or education. From an economic standpoint, the initiative could create over 460,000 permanent jobs in manufacturing, distribution, and maintenance of clean cooking technologies.
Environmental gains are just as significant. By shifting away from inefficient biomass combustion, Africa could cut 540 million metric tons of CO₂-equivalent emissions annually, a major step toward climate goals.
Key Pillars for Achieving Universal Access
To meet the 2040 target, Africa must focus on five key pillars: policy leadership, sustainable financing, technology diversification, gender inclusion, and local innovation.
1. Strong National Policies and Political Commitment
Governments must embed clean cooking into their national energy, health, and climate strategies. Countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, and Sierra Leone have already launched clean cooking roadmaps and integrated them into broader development plans.
For instance, Tanzania’s National Clean Cooking Strategy (2024–2034) targets 80% clean cooking access by 2034. Kenya has established a Clean Cooking Delivery Unit under the president’s office to coordinate policy and scale-up.
At the continental level, the African Union and the African Development Bank (AfDB) are aligning energy investments with clean cooking access, ensuring that clean cooking is treated as a core development priority.
2. Financing: Unlocking $2–4 Billion Annually
The IEA estimates that clean cooking for all in Africa will cost $2 billion per year. While this is modest by global standards, the continent must mobilize blended finance from public, private, and philanthropic sources.
The Clean Cooking Summit in Paris (2024) marked a breakthrough, raising $2.2 billion in pledges. The AfDB committed $2 billion over 10 years and set a precedent by earmarking 20% of its energy lending toward clean cooking solutions.
Beyond grants and loans, innovative financing models like results-based financing, carbon credits, and pay-as-you-go (PAYG) schemes are essential to reach low-income consumers and make technologies affordable at scale.
3. Diverse and Context-Specific Technology Choices
No single cooking solution fits all African households. The roadmap envisions a fuel mix based on regional and urban-rural differences:
- LPG is suitable for dense urban areas due to established supply chains and low maintenance.
- Electric cooking is gaining traction in countries with expanding grids, such as Rwanda and Ethiopia.
- Bioethanol and biogas are locally available and cleaner alternatives in agricultural areas.
- Improved biomass cookstoves still have a role in areas where modern fuels are unavailable or unaffordable.
Flexibility and cultural appropriateness must guide deployment to ensure sustained adoption.
4. Empowering Women as Drivers of Change
Women are disproportionately affected by traditional cooking methods, but they are also key agents of change. Empowering women as entrepreneurs, educators, and leaders in clean cooking ecosystems is vital.
Programs like KILMEAP in Kenya train women entrepreneurs to distribute improved cookstoves to last-mile households. Tanzania’s African Women Clean Cooking Support Programme, launched at COP28, emphasizes female leadership in national clean energy efforts.
Gender-sensitive approaches ensure clean cooking not only improves health but also promotes gender equity, livelihoods, and dignity.
5. Local Manufacturing, Distribution, and Innovation
Local supply chains reduce costs, create jobs, and build trust. Currently, there are more than 70 clean cooking equipment manufacturing facilities in Sub-Saharan Africa, with new ones emerging in countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, and Ghana.
Projects like KOKO Networks in Kenya offer ethanol fuel via smart vending kiosks and distribute affordable stoves through urban retailers. Project Gaia in Ethiopia develops micro-distilleries for ethanol, providing community-based fuel solutions.
Innovation doesn’t stop at technology. Africa is also a leader in mobile-enabled financing, real-time data monitoring, and community-based outreach to accelerate adoption.
Despite momentum, several barriers persist:
- Affordability: Many households cannot afford upfront stove or fuel costs. Expanding subsidies and leveraging carbon markets can bridge this gap.
- Infrastructure gaps: Remote areas lack supply chains for LPG and ethanol, while electric grids remain unreliable in many rural communities.
- Weak enforcement of standards: Unsafe or low-quality stoves can discourage adoption. Governments must enforce safety and performance standards.
- Carbon market volatility: Some stove programs depend on carbon credits, which face growing scrutiny. Programs must adopt transparent, verifiable emissions reductions to retain funding.
Overcoming these challenges will require targeted policy interventions, private sector partnerships, and community engagement.
Progress in Kenya and Tanzania
Kenya has been a pioneer in clean cooking entrepreneurship and innovation. Over 1 million households now use bioethanol fuel via KOKO Networks, and more than 150,000 households have adopted improved cookstoves via the KILMEAP initiative, led by women entrepreneurs.
Tanzania, meanwhile, has committed to reaching 80% clean cooking access by 2034. The government has paired this goal with strong policies and gender inclusion frameworks, supported by the African Union and the AfDB.
These examples show that political will, localized innovation, and financing coordination can drive significant progress.
