INTERNATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY AGENCY
Scaling Up Clean Cooking Solutions Requires Affordable Finance and Pragmatic Approach

The lack of access to clean cooking which continues the dependence on traditional cooking fuels has substantial impact to health and well-being. Around the world, 2.1 billion people still lack access to clean cooking, with 900 million of them residing in Sub-Saharan Africa. They usually women and children are at risk from bearing the severe consequences of household air pollution, which is associated with various illnesses and is responsible for premature deaths and deaths of children under the age of five.

Alternative and clean solutions that include renewable energy are available, such as improved biomass cookstoves, pellets, biogas, ethanol, and electric cooking. Renewables-based clean cooking solutions can offer environmental benefits, fuel and cost efficiency. But adoption of these solutions is still low due to affordability, as majority of those needing them are from low-income households.

Scaling up these solutions to reduce the massive gap in access to clean cooking requires an annual investment of around USD 8 billion by 2030. However, currently only a fraction of these funds has been mobilised. During the pre-day of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)'s 16th Assembly, governments and stakeholders highlighted this issue, sharing countries' experiences in increasing financial flows towards their clean cooking sectors.

In her opening IRENA's Deputy Director-General, Ms. Gauri Singh said, "It is important that we explore a wide range of finance sources and opportunities including those available domestically. External finance, especially grants and concessional loans, remain important, and its critical role should not be undermined. The key message is to consider both; pursue strategies that can increase both the domestic spending on clean cooking as well as international finance."

Although a significant opportunity exists of raising additional capital, and some funds are already available, the target recipients have low capacity to absorb those funds due to lack of bankable projects, high interest rates, and stringent requirements. It means there are no takers of that finance, and there is a need for guarantees to reduce interest rates.

An additional challenge is lack of clear information for investors. Comprehensive data allows investors to track where investments are going and the impact they make, boosting investors' confidence and mobilising more funds for the sector.

In a new report, IRENA presents new primary data on clean cooking investments channelled by Global South governments between 2022 and 2024, drawn from IRENA surveys of the 100 largest access-deficit countries and supplemented with analysis by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Development Assistance Committee. Based on the findings, the report encourages a more cohesive and coherent assessment of international clean cooking finance flows going forward.

Using the case of Tanzania, another IRENA report shows how clean cooking investment data including detailed information at the country and project levels is necessary to support decision making by governments, development finance institutions, donors and private investors. The data collected for the report has mapped companies and organisations that produce and/or promote clean cooking solutions and the financial sources, identified the financing gaps, as well as the capacity gaps of the stakeholders, among others.

By understanding the gaps and needs, the report came to several conclusions which include more targeted financing towards strengthening the business capacity of clean cooking companies, as well as boosting local manufacturing and maintenance.

However, the effort to scale up investment towards clean cooking solutions must be done in parallel with investments in transitional fuels like charcoal. With 157 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa still relying on charcoal as a primary fuel for cooking, it cannot be ignored entirely in the pursuit of a clean energy transition.

Ignoring charcoal in national energy planning risks undermining livelihoods and may result in policies that do not account for local realities. Therefore, the use of charcoal for cooking must be addressed strategically.

Another new report by IRENA highlights the urgent need for innovations and investments that contribute to the modernisation of charcoal production and use. The report introduces a 'new form of charcoal' for cooking, whose only resemblance to traditional charcoal is in the final product. It is different in its production, harvesting, processing, transport and use as they are more sustainable. Moreover, for a successful and inclusive transition, the report recommends policy frameworks to enable the creation of alternative sources of income for the charcoal producers.

This message is further strengthened by IRENA, Nuvoni Centre for Innovation Research, the Climate Compatible Growth, representatives from Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia and Ethiopia, and relevant stakeholders through a communiqué released after a workshop in Kenya. Together, they acknowledged that including charcoal into the clean cooking conversation is not about endorsing unsustainable or illegal practices, but rather taking a pragmatic step towards modernising, regulating and improving the sustainability of charcoal within the evolving clean cooking transition.