The International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned that current policies and investments in the sub-Saharan Africa region were not sufficient to ensure universal access to clean cooking by 2030, with the number of people without access to clean cooking in the region increasing, largely due to the rate of population growth outpacing access to clean cooking.
This comes as estimates from the IEA and the World Health Organization (WHO) indicate that 1.8 billion people globally will still lack access to clean cooking by the end of the decade.
According to the IEA’s Energy Progress Report released yesterday, the number of people without access to electricity increased for the first time in over a decade, as population grew – mostly in sub-Saharan Africa – at a higher rate than that of new electricity connections, leaving 685 million people without electricity in 2022, 10 million more than in 2021.
The IEA said a combination of factors contributed to this including the global energy crisis, inflation, growing debt distress in many low-income countries, and increased geopolitical tensions.
According to the report, the issue is compounded by rapid population growth and the mushrooming of informal peri-urban settlements.
The report said this presents a stiff challenge to bringing urban access rates to 100% as the access to electricity and clean cooking fuel deficit grew in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa from 376 million to 473 million.
According to the IEA’s estimates, reaching full clean cooking access would require $8 billion (R149bn) annually through 2030, half of it for sub-Saharan Africa alone.
A United Nations roadmap in 2023 outlining milestones toward decarbonising cooking fuels, electricity and the power grid proposed eliminating cooking poverty and achieving cleaner cooking for all by 2030, as well as universal cooking with modern cooking services, accelerating the decarbonisation of cooking fuels by 2040, and achieving net-zero clean cooking by 2050.
The IEA estimates that achieving universal access to clean cooking requires providing access to over 300 million people each year, about half of them in sub-Saharan Africa by the decade’s end.
The effort required in sub-Saharan Africa is equivalent to repeating the best single-year advances in the rest of the world every year from now till 2030.
The report noted that while African countries are implementing clean cooking plans, they lack the resources to support them with less than 20% of clean cooking plans backed by clear financing schemes.
“In terms of changes in the fuel-mix, WHO projected 67% and 8% respectively, of the lower-middle income Countries (LMIC) population to primarily use gas and electricity for cooking, if current trends continue through 2030,” the report noted.
“However, by 2030, 18% and 5% respectively will still rely on unprocessed biomass and charcoal, whereas 2% will use kerosene and coal.
“The use of gaseous fuels is expected to drive the majority of the increase in the percentage of the LMIC population using clean fuels and technologies for cooking.”
Under the IEA’s Net-Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario, liquefied petroleum gas continues to lead as the fuel for clean cooking.
It represents a 45% share of fuels among people gaining access to clean cooking by 2030; electricity represents a 12% share; and other sources such as bioethanol and biogas, represent approximately a 10% share.
Until 2030, high-quality improved cookstoves provide a first transitional step to cleaner cooking for one-third of households globally, providing meaningful benefits as a fast and feasible solution for rural households that infrastructure will be slow to reach.
The volume of public international financial flows to developing countries in support of clean energy research and development and renewable energy production has fallen over time.
However, the declining trend shows that the world is not on track to meet the goal of enhancing international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy research and technologies for countries in need.
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