African countries secure $900 million for clean cooking access

African countries secured $900 million in new financial commitments to expand access to clean cooking technologies during a virtual meeting convened by the International Energy Agency and Kenya, the agency said Thursday. The new pledges build on $2.2 billion mobilized at the 2024 Africa Clean Cooking Summit in Paris, bringing the combined total above $3.1 billion.

The funds will support cleaner cooking fuels, stoves, and related infrastructure across the continent.

Meeting participants and statements The meeting reviewed progress since the Paris summit and set priorities ahead of the next gathering later this year. Kenyan President William Ruto, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, African Union commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy Lerato Mataboge, and IEA executive director Fatih Birol attended.

"Access to clean cooking is one of the most impactful yet overlooked challenges of our time," Wright said, adding that it directly affects the lives of billions of people, particularly women and children. Ruto said financing remained the biggest obstacle to universal access.

Current access and policy developments Nearly 1 billion people across Africa still lack access to clean cooking and rely on charcoal, firewood, and other polluting fuels that the IEA links to an estimated 850,000 premature deaths each year. Clean cooking uses low-emission fuels and technologies such as ethanol, biogas, and electricity.

The IEA reported that $740 million, or about one-third of the Paris commitments, has already been deployed across 22 African countries. Governments have introduced 121 new clean cooking policies across more than 30 African countries since the Paris summit.