The International Energy Agency has launched a new public-private initiative to strengthen clean cooking supply chains worldwide, with a strong focus on Africa, where polluting cooking fuels are blamed for about 850,000 premature deaths each year.
The initiative was unveiled during a virtual high-level meeting led by co-chairs and partners ahead of the next Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa. IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol announced $900 million in new financial commitments for clean cooking in Africa, adding to the $2.2 billion mobilised at the 2024 Paris summit.
The agency said $740 million of the earlier commitments has already been deployed across 22 African countries. It also reported major policy progress, with 121 new clean cooking policies introduced in more than 30 countries representing most of the continent’s population still without access.
Participants at the meeting, including Kenyan President William Ruto, Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, African Union Commissioner Lerato Mataboge and African Development Bank President Sidi Ould Tah, said clean cooking remains one of Africa’s most urgent energy and health challenges. They said nearly 1 billion people on the continent still lack access to clean cooking, leaving women and children especially exposed to health risks and daily hardship.
The IEA also announced a new Clean Cooking Security Programme to help countries improve fuel security and reduce supply disruptions. The programme comes after shipping interruptions through the Strait of Hormuz affected a large share of globally traded liquefied petroleum gas, the main cooking fuel for billions of people.
The newly formed Clean Cooking Alliance, now hosted by the IEA, also held its first plenary meeting as a multilateral initiative. Its role is to help convert pledges into real progress through closer support for country-led implementation.
Leaders at the meeting said clean cooking must move from a development side issue to a central policy priority. They argued that the combination of finance, technology and stronger political will could accelerate access and reduce the health and economic burden caused by polluting fuels.