Chapter 01 · Climate & transitionEnergy & Transition
Clean cooking
Definition
The use of cooking solutions that meet health, efficiency and environmental standards — broadly, fuels and stoves other than open fires or rudimentary stoves burning wood, charcoal, coal, dung or kerosene. Clean cooking access is tracked under SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy) alongside electricity access.
References
>2 billion without access (2023); ~3.7M premature deaths/yr from household air pollution; Africa summit US$2.2bn commitment; data sources (WHO Household Energy Database).
Overview
What it means
More than 2 billion people still lack clean cooking access, and household air pollution — mostly cooking smoke — is linked to around 3. 7 million premature deaths a year, with the burden falling on women and children who cook and gather fuel. The issue bundles health, gender (time poverty from fuel collection), climate (black carbon, deforestation) and development.
Progress has historically lagged electrification badly; the IEA's 2024 "Vision for Clean Cooking Access for All" and the first Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa (US$2. 2 billion committed) mark its elevation into mainstream energy-transition policy. Carbon finance increasingly supports stove and fuel programmes — with integrity questions over cookstove credit baselines prompting methodology revisions.
How it is used
Governments set clean-cooking strategies and subsidies (e. g. LPG programmes); development finance funds distribution and market-building; carbon credits channel finance to improved cookstoves; WHO/IEA databases track access and emissions.
Why it matters
Clean cooking is one of the starkest intersections of energy poverty, public health and gender inequality — an SDG 7 pillar where the transition is furthest behind.