In rural communities, cooking with biomass such as wood fuels and crop residues, charcoal, and kerosene is quite common. Unfortunately, using these fuels for cooking activities results in health and environmental challenges in three categories.
Firstly, on the household/community level, burning these fuels produces pollutants such as carbon mono oxide and other volatile organic compounds, which react with oxygen, causing air pollution. These pollutants damage health and impose a significant physical strain on individuals, especially women and girls, while collecting wood fuels. In a recent study by the National Bureau of Statistics, 68.3% of Nigerian households still use solid biomass for cooking. According to a World Bank Report, about 4.3 million people die annually of indoor smoke inhalation and respiratory disease caused by emissions from these cookstoves.
Secondly, on a community and national scale, the unsustainable use of wood fuels leads to the loss of forest habitats and ecosystems. The use of wood fuels and biomass for cooking activities release large amounts of CO2, contributing to global warming. Biomass-based cooking contributes about 2 per cent of the global CO2 emissions and 25 per cent of the global black carbon emissions worldwide.
In reducing the carbon footprints resulting from these poor cooking practices, technology has channelled a more sustainable and efficient means of cooking, known as clean cooking. This solution is simply using clean fuels such as biogas, liquified petroleum gas (LPG), electricity, solar, and natural gas to cook. These clean cooking solutions have proven to be much more sustainable and beneficial for public health by reducing harmful emissions. These cooking fuels are environmentally friendly and do not lead to the depletion of forest resources. Moreover, they are a convenient, energy, and time-saving medium.
In developed societies, these solutions have been scaled. However, while the share of the global population with access to clean cooking fuels and technologies grew from 47% in 2000 to 59% in 2016, sub-Saharan Africa has not kept pace with this development. This reduced pace can be attributed to a series of challenges, including;
- Price limitation: In low-income countries, the adoption of clean cooking solutions has been slow due to the affordability of clean cooking fuels and technologies. The high cost of purchasing clean cooking technology has been a barrier to its adoption, especially in rural areas.
- Low accessibility to clean cooking fuels: Another factor limiting the scaling of clean cooking solutions is the poor access to clean cooking fuels, such as LPG and electric power. For instance, in sub-Saharan Africa, the lack of access to electricity hinders the successful use of electric stoves. Also, the absence of domestic gas processing capacity in many countries forces consumers to depend on gas imports. Hence, usage is tied to importation. Also, there is a lack of transportation infrastructure to facilitate gas use across these countries.
Despite these challenges, several developmental agencies, governments and private sector investors have begun deploying clean cooking solutions in many countries; an example is the recently launched Spark+Africa fund by the Clean Cooking Alliance to finance pioneering companies that offer life-improving biomass, biogas, ethanol, electric, and LPG-based cooking technologies to low-income consumers. Also, a clean cooking indicator was included in and is being tracked as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.
While the degree of investments is far from where they need to be, more investors recognise the untapped market opportunities and the need to close the clean cooking gap. Closing this gap will require coordinated efforts from government agencies, private sectors and the general public to achieve universal access to clean cooking (SDG 7).
On the part of the government, there should be an integrated energy plan that addresses the complete suite of household energy needs, including clean cooking. This will help to maximise health and environmental sustainability. In addition, governments can foster the development of a rigid clean cooking industry through tax and import duty waivers directed towards scaling these solutions to unserved regions. According to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the funding required to achieve universal access to modern, clean cooking by 2030 is estimated at US$4.5 billion per year. This illustrates the need for increased private sector investments in clean cooking solutions. Finally, there is a need for more engagement and awareness, especially in rural communities, on the need for and benefits of adopting clean cooking solutions.