African policymakers attending the UN Climate Change Conference, colloquially known as Conference of Parties (COP29), in Baku, Azerbaijan, have highlighted the urgent lack of access to clean cooking affecting 1.2 bn people on the continent.
- Over 83 percent of people in Sub-Saharan Africa rely on traditional biomass fuels.
- Reliance on polluting fuels costs approximately $791.4 billion annually, with health-related impacts accounting for $526.3 billion.
- Approximately 1 billion of the 2.3 billion people globally without access to clean cooking are in Africa, with the continent losing about 3.9 million hectares of forest annually due to unsustainable cooking practices.
“Clean cooking is not just a health issue; it is a matter of human dignity. We cannot allow our sisters and mothers to suffer in silence while we have the power to change this… We must mobilize at least $4 billion annually to achieve universal access to clean cooking by 2030,” Kevin Kariuki, African Development Bank (AfDB) Group Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate & Green Growth said.
At a Paris summit held In May 2024, AfDB President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina pledged to allocate 20 percent of Bank financing for energy projects that promote clean cooking alternatives, helping secure $2.2 billion in commitments from both public and private sectors to improve cooking practices across Africa.
“It is unacceptable that women are still dying because they lack access to clean cooking solutions,” Tanzania’s Vice President Philip Mpango, speaking on behalf of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, said at a COP29 side event on Clean Cooking Challenges in Africa.
From 2000 to 2020, there was a significant increase in the number of people in SSA who lack access to clean cooking. This increase outpaced the growth in access during the same period. The situation is symptomatic of a larger fight, echoing the global aspiration expressed in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) – ensuring access to affordable and clean energy for all.
The interlinkages between clean cooking, deforestation, health, and the overarching SDGs weave a story of both a challenge and opportunity that requires inventive and concerted approaches.
