At a Leaders' Roundtable on Clean Cooking in Africa at COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, on 12 November, the International Energy Agency (IEA) presented figures showing that roughly two-thirds of the $2.2 billion pledged for clean cooking in Africa remains undelivered. The IEA's Executive Director, Fatih Birol, stated that about $740 million has been disbursed to 28 African countries supporting concrete projects. This leaves approximately $1.46 billion still to be delivered. The pledges were made at the first Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa, held in Paris in 2024.
The summit was co-chaired by Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan, and the IEA has been tracking the commitments since. President Samia reported that by July 2026, approximately $740 million of the commitment made in Paris had been deployed across 22 African countries. She also mentioned that a further $900 million in commitments had been mobilised since the Paris summit, bringing the total to about $3.1 billion. President Samia emphasized that success must be measured not only by the resources mobilized but also by the number of families gaining access to affordable, reliable, and sustainable clean cooking solutions.
Nearly one billion Africans, about six in every ten people on the continent, still lack access to clean cooking, contributing to approximately 850,000 premature deaths every year. President Samia stated that traditional cooking generates 1.2 gigatonnes of greenhouse gases a year, equal to the emissions from international aviation and shipping combined. The IEA's Fatih Birol described this as "one of the greatest injustices in this world," highlighting that it is an easily solvable problem if sufficient finance is available.
Kenya's special envoy, Ambassador Ali Mohamed, speaking on behalf of President William Ruto, emphasized that Africa's clean cooking challenge requires at least $2 billion every year. He stressed that success will be measured not just by commitment but by the financing that is deployed. The President of the OPEC Fund for International Development, Abdulhamid Alkhalifa, cited a different figure, stating that Africa needs $4 billion a year for clean cooking.
Lesotho's Deputy Prime Minister, Justice Nthomeng Majara, warned that isolated projects and pilot interventions will not be sufficient to achieve universal access to clean cooking. Uganda's representative mentioned that the country's strategy targets universal access to clean cooking by 2040, with an intermediate target of 50% access by 2030. President Yoweri Museveni has issued Executive Order No. 3 banning charcoal.
Norway's special envoy, Hans Olav Ibrekk, emphasized that clean cooking is climate action and that commitments must be translated into implementation at scale. The next test comes at the second Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa, to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, on 27–28 January 2027, which Birol will co-chair with President Ruto.
The summit aims to address the significant gap in clean cooking access in Africa. With nearly one billion people lacking access to clean cooking, the continent faces significant health and environmental challenges. The implementation of clean cooking solutions is crucial to addressing these challenges and achieving sustainable development.
Key points
- About $1.46 billion of the $2.2 billion pledged for clean cooking in Africa remains undelivered.
- Nearly one billion Africans lack access to clean cooking, contributing to approximately 850,000 premature deaths every year.
- Africa needs at least $2 billion every year to address the clean cooking challenge.
