African countries have taken bold commitments to implement clean cooking energy solutions to offset the devastating effects of open fire cooking which kills roughly 600,000 women and children annually across the continent.
In energy compacts signed during the Mission 300 Africa Energy Summit, held in Tanzania 27-28 January, 12 African countries signaled their intent to accelerate the pace of access to electricity and clean cooking solutions on the world’s fastest-growing continent, in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 7 and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
Commending these countries, Tanzanian President Suluhu Hassan stated in closing remarks: “I understand that the 12 governments have only pioneered, and many others will join us in the future.” Earlier, at the opening speaking about the purpose of the summit she said, “This gathering is a platform to consolidate commitments, announce new partnerships and drive momentum towards the 2030 goal.”
The two-day meeting was organized by the Government of Tanzania and Mission 300, an unprecedented collaboration between the African Development Bank Group, the World Bank Group and global partners, to address Africa’s electricity access gap through the use of new technology and innovative financing.
Moderating a special panel on clean cooking on Monday, Rashid Abdallah, Executive Director of the African Energy Commission (AFREC), noted that whilst 600 million Africans live without access to electricity, one billion -nearly double the number – were without access to clean cooking, relying on biomass fuels such as wood and charcoal, with severe economic, social and environmental impact. Conservative estimates put the cost of this across the continent to $790 billion a year, he noted.
Abdallah was joined by Dr. Richard Muyungi, Special Envoy to the President of Tanzania, Peter Scott, CEO of Burn Manufacturing, and Martin Kimani, CEO of M-Gas, who each highlighted the significant health, environmental, and economic impacts of relying on polluting fuels for cooking, as well as the innovative approaches being developed to address this crisis.
Muyungi shared Tanzania’s experience in launching a comprehensive National Clean Cooking Strategy, emphasizing the importance of high-level political commitment, coordinated stakeholder engagement, and the integration of private sector participation.
He praised President Hassan’s role as a global champion bringing the issue to the highest level of African governments.
“It is important to elevate it to the highest level… She is the champion of clean cooking,” he said. He stressed: “It’s important that there is a champion who can elevate clean cooking in terms of partnerships and partner with others to address this issue. He added that Tanzania is on track to transition 80 percent of its population to clean cooking technologies by 2034, thanks to the efforts of President Hassan.
Scott, whose company Burn Manufacturing is the largest clean cooking manufacturer in Africa, discussed the diverse range of solutions being deployed across the continent, from fuel-efficient biomass stoves to cutting-edge electric cooking appliances with pay-as-you-go financing models. He stressed the availability of funding for clean cooking projects, pending the approval of carbon credit regulations by governments.
“This is the most exciting time in the history of clean cooking,” Scott declared. “Now, there’s a lot of money standing by to approve carbon credit regulations to allow carbon trading, carbon finance, to grow. “
Kimani’s pioneering pay-as-you-cook LPG model has provided an innovative and affordable solution to enable households to transition to clean cooking. He shared the success of M-Gas in onboarding half a million households in Kenya and Tanzania within just three years, demonstrating the scalability of this approach. “One of the most important considerations is affordability, how do we close that gap?” he asked.
M-Gas has found an answer by installing IOT enabled smart meters which are fixed into gas cylinders without upfront payment.
“We mirror the environment where they can now cook using LPG. With 35 cents they can cook three meals in a day,” he added.
