NAIROBI, Kenya — African nations have secured $900 million in new financial pledges aimed at expanding access to cleaner cooking technologies, the International Energy Agency announced Thursday.
The fresh commitment adds to the $2.2 billion raised at the first-ever Africa Clean Cooking Summit held in Paris in 2024, pushing the overall total to more than $3.1 billion. Those funds are earmarked to broaden access to cleaner cooking fuels, stoves, and supporting infrastructure throughout the continent.
The announcement came during a virtual meeting on clean cooking in Africa, organized jointly by the IEA and Kenya. Participants reviewed how much progress has been made since the Paris gathering and discussed priorities leading up to the next summit, scheduled for later this year.
Close to 1 billion people across Africa still do not have access to clean cooking options, instead depending on charcoal, firewood, and other polluting fuels. The IEA estimates these fuels contribute to roughly 850,000 premature deaths each year.
The virtual meeting included 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, among other participants.
Clean cooking involves the use of low-emission fuels and technologies — including ethanol, biogas, and electricity — as alternatives to traditional options like charcoal and firewood. Making the switch reduces dangerous indoor air pollution and leads to better health outcomes for millions of African families.
Wright emphasized the significance of the issue, saying, “Access to clean cooking is one of the most impactful yet overlooked challenges of our time,” and noting that it directly touches the lives of billions of people, especially women and children.
President Ruto pointed to funding as the central barrier to achieving widespread clean cooking access across Africa. “Ambition alone is not enough. It must be backed by investment,” he said.
Birol reported that IEA tracking data shows $740 million — roughly one-third of what was pledged in Paris — has already been put to work across 22 African countries. “The additional $900 million in commitments demonstrates growing momentum, with more expected before the next summit,” he added.
The IEA also released a new report indicating that governments have enacted 121 new clean cooking policies across more than 30 African countries since the Paris summit. Those nations represent approximately 80% of Africans currently without access to clean cooking options.
The agency said it is partnering with the African Union to help governments build stronger national clean cooking policies as part of a continent-wide strategy ahead of the next summit.
Additionally, the IEA launched a new public-private initiative called the Clean Cooking Security Programme, designed to reinforce global supply chains for cooking fuels — particularly liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG. The program was prompted in part by shipping disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz earlier this year, which impacted roughly 30% of globally traded LPG. More than 3.4 billion people around the world rely on LPG as their main cooking fuel.
The program will offer technical assistance to nations looking to improve their fuel security and explore ways to deepen international cooperation on clean cooking supply chains.
