IEA Convenes Summit On Clean Cooking In Africa
A major re-alignment of interest in one of the world’s most neglected areas of gender, energy, health and climate change has just taken place. It is estimated that over 800 million households in Africa use biomass–wood, charcoal, dung–for preparing meals, causing major respiratory and other health problems for the cooks and firewood collectors; primarily women and girls. In some circumstances even the collection of these fuels poses risk of attack.
On May 14th, 2024, after years of building support and momentum with partners, the International Energy Agency hosted an international summit on Global Clean Cooking in Africa. See here for a video recording of the event, and here for the news releases, reports and amounts committed by the public and private sectors: US $2.2 billion additional cash and in-kind commitments. Important features include:
- pay-as-you-go schemes,
- mobile payments
- electrification in urban areas
- allowance for liquid petroleum gas (LPG ie. propane) as a transitional fuel for some countries, regions and communities, in particular rural areas
- continued innovation with diverse biofuels and cookstoves,
- made-in Africa manufacturing of these cookstoves
- micro-grids integrated with solar power, and
- increased private investment and public-private-partnerships with the use of carbon credits
The last is not without problems, but part of the funding will go to regulatory improvements and monitoring so that carbon markets, credits and offsets will, in time, help households who face hazards each time they prepare meals. We will be looking at carbon markets applied to global clean cooking, and sustainable development, in the months ahead. If you are interested in this topic, contact us.