Funding of $2.2bn pledged to clean cooking in Africa

Public and private-sector pledges amounting to $2.2bn in cash, infrastructure investment and finance to provide access to clean cooking fuels, including LPG, in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030 have been announced at the IEA's Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa today.

Governments, financial institutions and private-sector companies made a string of funding pledges at the event, which attracted nearly 1,000 delegates from 45 countries, including heads of state from Norway, Tanzania, Togo and Sierra Leone and 21 ministers.

From the public sector, the EU has earmarked €400mn ($432mn) for clean cooking under an existing EU-Africa investment package. Norway's prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre added $50mn to this commitment, while French, Danish and UK ministers pledged €100mn, $72mn and £8.5mn ($10.7mn), respectively, under various clean cooking initiatives across the continent to 2030. The US will add a minimum of $40mn in the next two years alone.

Private-sector pledges were led by energy firms operating in the region, many of which operate in the LPG sector. Trading company Vitol's chief executive Russell Hardy committed $550mn towards "infrastructure, [LPG] cylinders, distribution and cookstoves" across his firm's African operations, while Italy's Eni pledged $300mn to lift the number of beneficiaries of its clean cooking programme in Africa from 500,000 to 10mn by 2027 and 20mn by 2030.

TotalEnergies will invest $100mn in additional LPG production in Uganda and associated local distribution, and $400mn across Africa and India in developing LPG cooking markets, chief executive Patrick Pouyanne said. LPG is a "pragmatic, existing enabler for access to clean cooking," he said.

Africa50 — a financial institution founded by African governments and the African Development Bank (AFDB) to mobilise investment in infrastructure in the continent — pledged $500mn of finance for LPG infrastructure projects, according to chief executive Alain Ebobisse. This is on top of a previous commitment from the AFDB, announced at the UN's Cop 28 climate summit in November, to allocate 20pc of its energy lending budget to clean cooking, worth around $2bn over the next 10 years.

The bank has also urged local governments in Africa to allocate 5pc of their current energy investments to clean cooking, which would raise another $3.5bn/yr, AFDB president Akinwumi Adesin said.

2030 Vision

LPG plays a crucial role in the IEA's vision for clean cooking in Africa. Under the Paris-based agency's "access for all" policies scenario, around 45pc of the transition will be to LPG by 2030.

The IEA wants to mobilise $4bn/yr of investment in clean cooking in sub-Saharan Africa, 80pc of which will be for end-user equipment and 20pc on infrastructure, a goal that it says is achievable now. The region can look to emulate successful LPG transitions in Brazil, India, Indonesia and Ghana, Tanzanian president Samia Suluhu Hassan said.

The funding pledged at the event is a significant milestone for clean cooking in Africa, given that just $175mn/yr was invested in the region in 2015-19, according to the IEA. The agency organised the summit and encouraged participation as part of its drive to tackle indoor air pollution from cooking with solid biomass fuels.

IEA executive director Fatih Birol said he hopes the world will look back on today "as the turning point" for tackling the problem.

By Peter Wilton and Matt Scotland