Universal clean cooking access could be reached worldwide by 2030 with yearly investment of $8-billion, and clean cooking is a cornerstone of global efforts to improve energy access, gender equity, economic development and human dignity, says global body the International Energy Agency (IEA) executive director Dr Fatih Birol.

Nearly one-in-three people around the world cook their meals over open fires or on basic stoves, resulting in significant damage to health, living standards and gender equality.

Basic cooking methods that are widely used by populations that lack access to clean cooking also contribute to greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. The collection of wood and charcoal for cooking results in the loss of areas of forest the size of Ireland each year.

However, this challenge can be overcome this decade through a relatively modest amount of investment, according to the IEA 'A Vision for Clean Cooking Access for All' report, which was produced in partnership with development finance institution the African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

In terms of benefits, the total time-savings globally would be equal to the yearly working hours of a labour force the size of Japan’s. The reduction in global GHG emissions would reach 1.5-billion tonnes a year, which is equivalent to the current emissions from all ships and aeroplanes combined.

Today, 2.3-billion people rely on charcoal, firewood, coal, agricultural waste and animal dung as fuel to prepare meals, causing them to breathe in harmful smoke in the process. Air pollution from these rudimentary cooking methods causes 3.7-million premature deaths a year, ranking it the third largest cause of premature death globally, the report shows.

To achieve the universal access target laid out in the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 7, nearly 300-million people need to gain access to clean cooking means each year between now and 2030. People in sub-Saharan Africa represent half of this amount, highlighting where international efforts need to focus, the report finds.

“Achieving universal access to clean cooking would require investment of $8-billion annually in stoves and infrastructure between now and 2030, which is less than 1% of what governments spent in 2022 globally on measures to keep energy affordable for their citizens,” it highlights.

Public and private finance have a key role to play in advancing clean cooking, especially in regions without the fiscal space to drive the required investment through public funds. Concessional and climate financing will be needed to support projects in the poorest regions, notably in sub-Saharan Africa. Concessional finance would need to make up around half of the annual investment, the report notes.

“Solving access to clean cooking does not require a technological breakthrough. It comes down to political will from governments, development banks and other entities seeking to eradicate poverty and gender inequality. But, today, we are failing women in some of the most vulnerable areas of the world,” Birol says.

The benefits from reaching universal access to clean cooking in terms of gender equality, health and time-savings would be immense. The report finds, for example, that premature deaths from poor indoor air quality would drop by 2.5-million a year.

The average household would save at least 1.5 hours of time a day, freeing up time for other pursuits such as education or work, especially for women.

Additionally, women suffer the worst impacts from the lack of clean cooking. The burden of fuel collection and making meals typically falls on women and takes on average 5 hours a day. This prevents many women from pursuing education and employment or from starting a business that could deliver financial independence, the report emphasised.

“The lack of access to clean cooking negatively impacts public health, perpetuates deforestation, and increases GHG emissions. Universal access to modern energy by 2030 is imperative and requires game-changing approaches,” says AfDB president Akinwumi Adesina.

“I am confident that the rich data and insights from this report will inform and shape our collective approaches to this noble goal of universal access to clean cooking in Africa,” he says.

In the past decade, global progress on clean cooking has been slow, with progress restricted to a handful of countries. Since 2010, China, India and Indonesia all halved the number of their citizens who lack clean cooking access. These efforts relied largely on providing free stoves and subsidised canisters of liquefied petroleum gas.

However, during the same period, Africa’s population without clean cooking access continued to climb. Under today's policy settings, most African countries are not expected to reach full clean cooking access even in the 2050s.

This could hinder broader development efforts, making it imperative to elevate clean cooking as a policy priority, the report notes.