Yemisi Izuora
Health and environmental issues are rising in Africa following adoption of harmful cooking fuels that have dire consequences on both human health and the environment.
Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for nearly half of the global population without access to clean cooking, according to a report published by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
The report, titled Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report 2026, said that nearly 970 million people in the region still lacked access to clean cooking fuels and technologies in 2024, out of 2 billion people worldwide. The region is expected to account for 58 per cent of the global clean cooking access gap by 2030.
According to the report, although more countries in sub-Saharan Africa are adopting policies to promote cleaner solutions, population growth continues to outpace gains in access. As a result, the number of people without access to clean cooking solutions is rising by about 14 million a year across the region and is expected to exceed 1 billion by 2027.
This contrasts with the progress made in several Asian countries. Since 2010, India alone has accounted for about 40 per cent of the global reduction in the clean cooking access gap, compared with 30 per cent for China and 10 per cent for Indonesia.
More broadly, 75 per cent of the world’s population primarily relied on clean cooking fuels and technologies in 2024. Despite this improvement since 2010, about 2 billion people still rely on polluting fuels for cooking.
On the current trajectory, the share of the global population with access to clean cooking is expected to reach 79 per cent by 2030. That would still leave 1.8 billion people without access, well short of universal access, with the vast majority living in Africa.
This persistent gap comes despite growing international efforts to promote clean cooking.
At the first African Clean Cooking Summit, held in Paris in 2024, public and private stakeholders announced $2.2 billion in commitments.
According to an IEA note published in July 2025, $470 million had already been disbursed, while several African countries had strengthened their clean cooking policies.
Those efforts remain insufficient given the scale of the challenge. In several African countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Uganda and Tanzania, fewer than 10 per cent of households use clean cooking fuels.
The report also said the access gap remains primarily a rural issue.
Of the two billion people worldwide without access, 1.5 billion live in rural areas. For sub-Saharan Africa, the challenge is therefore not only to increase commitments, but also to expand access to clean cooking solutions in the most underserved areas.