Sub-Saharan Africa is heading toward a major clean cooking crisis, with the number of people without access to clean cooking fuels and technologies expected to rise above 1 billion by 2027.
The International Energy Agency said in its Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report 2026 that nearly 970 million people in sub-Saharan Africa lacked access to clean cooking in 2024, out of about 2 billion people worldwide without such access. The region is now projected to account for 58 percent of the global clean cooking access gap by 2030.
The report said progress across the region is being slowed by rapid population growth, which is outpacing the gains made through new policies and cleaner energy programmes. It added that the number of people without access is increasing by about 14 million each year across sub-Saharan Africa.
Although the global share of people using clean cooking fuels and technologies rose to 75 percent in 2024, about 2 billion people still depend on polluting fuels such as firewood, charcoal, and other unsafe alternatives. On current trends, the IEA warned that 1.8 billion people will still be without access by 2030, with most living in Africa.
The report noted that some Asian countries have made stronger progress, with India, China and Indonesia accounting for much of the global reduction in the clean cooking access gap since 2010. In Africa, however, the challenge remains severe, especially in rural communities where access is weakest.
Countries including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Uganda and Tanzania were highlighted as places where fewer than 10 percent of households use clean cooking fuels. The report said that while international commitments have grown, financing and implementation remain far below what is needed to close the gap.