One of the most life-transforming benefits of the transition to clean energy is clean cooking services. What exactly makes a cooking experience “clean?” Two energy-related factors come into play: the type of fuel used and the conversion device (fireplace, stove) that converts the energy into heat. Solid fuels (wood, crop waste, charcoal, coal, dung) and kerosene are considered unhealthy due to their harmful emissions, while gaseous fuels and electricity are “clean.”1
About 2.3 billion people use polluting fuels and inefficient technologies for most of their cooking. The resulting household air pollution was responsible for an estimated 3.2 million deaths per year in 2020, including over 237,000 deaths of children under the age of five.2 The collection, preparation, and use of firewood, crop residues, and animal dung sum to an arduous, time-consuming household task, a burden that disproportionately falls on women and girls.
The lack of access to clean cooking fuels has distinct patterns. Just 20 countries with the largest access deficits accounted for 78 percent of the global population lacking access to clean cooking, including 10 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.1 Urban areas generally have greater access to clean cooking than rural areas.
Most high-income countries have universal access to clean cooking services, while most of the lowest-income countries also have the lowest access to clean cooking. But note the large range in access across middle-income countries that indicates that factors other than income—policy, culture, demographics, governance—influence access to clean cooking services.
In most regions, access to clean cooking services is on the rise. The percentage of the global population with access to clean cooking fuels and technologies increased from about 50% in 200 to about 71% in 2021.2 Improvement in the global access rate was predominantly driven by progress in the most populous low- and middle-income countries: China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, and Pakistan.1 This is an important reminder that important work remains to be done to improve access to clean energy services in many countries where progress has been very slow.
1 Energy Sector Management Assistance Program, The World Bank, “2023 Tracking SDG7 Report,” https://trackingsdg7.esmap.org/downloads
2 World Health Organization, Household air pollution (Factsheet), 27 July 2022, Link
