Advancing Energy Access and Clean Cooking Solutions

Why It Matters

Transitioning households to clean cooking addresses a major public‑health and gender equity crisis at relatively low cost, creates clear investment and infrastructure needs, and is now rising on the agendas of major governments and multilateral forums—raising the prospect of scalable market and policy action.

Summary

IEA leaders and government ministers convened a high-level dialogue to accelerate clean cooking and energy access in Africa ahead of a Nairobi summit in July. They highlighted that four in five African households still cook with biomass, causing about 800,000 premature deaths annually, and argued that universal clean cooking access in sub‑Saharan Africa could be achieved for roughly $4 billion a year. The IEA reported progress from last year’s Paris summit—about $470 million disbursed toward LPG storage and distribution from a $2.2 billion pledge—and announced closer collaboration with the Clean Cooking Alliance and new multilateral commitments. Speakers from the Netherlands, Norway, the U.S. and Kenya framed the July summit as a push to turn technical solutions and political will into concrete investments and infrastructure deployment.

Original Description

Learn more: https://www.iea.org/events/advancing-energy-access-and-clean-cooking-solutions

This High-level dialogue on Advancing energy access and clean cooking solutions will showcase progress since the 2024 Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa, highlight approaches that have accelerated clean cooking solutions and provide a platform for participants to present new initiatives to advance energy access. The session also aims at identifying priority areas for the upcoming 2026 Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa, including key policies targets, strategies to mobilize more public and private investment, and approaches to engage industry and civil society.