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The summit noted that from a market opportunity standpoint, $20-40 billion a year is spent in African markets on cooking fuel, which is a huge market for the LPG industry, for electrification to enable the uptake of electric cooking stoves
The International Energy Agency (IEA), the African Development Bank Group, and other partner organisations have been relentlessly trying to phase out the traditional cooking stoves in Africa, specifically focusing on the sub-Saharan region, through its Clean Cooking in Africa campaigns.
They want Africa to embrace clean cooking through the use of electric stoves instead of exposure to smoking heat from wood and charcoal.
In this regard, the campaigners have been asking wealthy individuals, corporate organisations and the developed nations, to lend hands for the advancement of the project and to achieve its goals.
The IEA, which is at the forefront of the project, declared 2024 the Pivotal Year for Clean Cooking.
Based on its research, today, nearly four in five Africans still cook their meals over open fires and traditional stoves, using wood, charcoal, animal dung, and other polluting fuels.
This has dire impacts on health, gender equality and the environment, with women and children bearing the worst consequences.
Consequently, the summit on Clean Cooking in Africa was held in Paris from 14-15 May 2024.
The summit was co-chaired by President Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre of Norway, the African Development Bank Group president, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, and the International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol.
The landmark event brought together global leaders, including the presidents of Sierra Leone and Togo, as well as the director-general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, among others, to make 2024 a turning point for progress on ensuring clean cooking access for all on the continent, and to mobilise the fund for the execution of the project.
At the event, the African Development Bank Group, pledged $2 billion over the next 10 years to promote safe alternatives to cooking with charcoal, wood, and biomass.
The Bank's President Dr Akinwumi Adesina emphasised the urgent need to address the lack of access to clean cooking facilities, which he said has resulted in the premature deaths of over 600,000 mainly women and children each year.
He stressed that access to clean cooking is a matter of dignity, fairness, justice, and equity for women.
"Access to clean cooking is about more than cooking, it is about dignity… It is more than about lighting a stove, it is about life itself," Adesina said, recalling how as a youth he had damaged his eyesight blowing into smoking wooden fires and how a friend had died in a kerosene-related explosion.
President Suluhu called for a generous replenishment of the African Development Fund, the Bank Group's concessional window. "To guarantee resources for clean cooking, this summit has to call for a generous next replenishment of the African Development Fund that includes $12 billion for clean cooking," she urged.
French President Emmanuel Macron, also pledged to invest €100 million over 5 years in clean cooking methods for Africa, assuring to mobilise even more through the Paris Pact for People and the Planet and through Finance in Common.
President Macron said that the African Development Bank Group was one of the partners with whom the French government is collaborating to address the clean cooking issue.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania said: “Ensuring clean cooking access for all in Africa needs adequate, affordable, and sustainable financing for appropriate solutions and innovations; adequate global attention; and smart policies and partnerships. Successfully advancing the clean cooking agenda in Africa would contribute towards protecting the environment, climate, and health, and ensuring gender equality.
This Summit underscores our commitment to advancing this agenda and providing a framework towards universal adoption of clean cooking fuels and technologies across the continent.”
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre of Norway said: “Improving access to clean cooking is about improving health outcomes, reducing emissions, and creating opportunities for economic growth. With today’s Summit, we have mobilized much-needed support and built a diverse partnership that together can make a real difference. Norway is a steadfast supporter of clean cooking, and I was pleased to announce today that we are committed to investing approximately USD 50 million in this important cause.”
IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said: “This Summit has delivered an emphatic commitment to an issue that has been ignored by too many people, for too long. We still have a long way to go, but the outcome of this Summit, USD 2.2 billion committed, can help support fundamental rights such as health, gender equality and education while also reducing emissions and restoring forests.
The commitments announced today go beyond the money alone – they set out concrete steps on how governments, institutions and the private sector can work together to solve the clean cooking challenge this decade. I’m proud of the IEA’s decades of work on this issue and of its leadership in initiating this groundbreaking Summit. Going forward, we will rigorously track the commitments announced today to make sure they’re met on time and in full – and continue to do our utmost to bring greater resources and attention to this critical issue.”
During his intervention at the Summit, the UNIDO Deputy to the Director General and Managing Director Ciyong Zou said: “It is time for clean cooking to be at the forefront of discussions on climate change, energy, environmental sustainability, health and food systems. Globally, 2.3 billion people still lack access to modern, clean cooking technologies; it is imperative that we unite our efforts to catalyze investments to enhance the affordability and availability of clean cooking fuels and technologies in countries and communities with the largest access gaps.”
The summit noted that from a market opportunity standpoint, $20-40 billion a year is spent in African markets on cooking fuel, which is a huge market for the LPG industry, for electrification to enable the uptake of electric cooking stoves and fertilizer that can increase crop yields for farmers.
The stakeholders maintained that clean cooking will save at least 200 million hectares of forests globally by 2030.
Clean cooking will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 1.9 gigatons of CO2 emissions equivalent per year, roughly equal to all emissions from aeroplanes and ships today.
“Clean cooking is thought to touch on 11 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
At the end of the summit, the declaration was signed by nearly 60 countries, international organisations, civil societies and companies.
