Fifty countries are meeting in France on Tuesday to discuss the lack of access to clean cooking methods around the world, which is causing millions of deaths every year and fueling global warming.
About 2.3 billion people in 128 countries breathe in harmful fumes when they cook on large stoves or open fires, according to a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA). and the Bank Development Bank (BAD) which went bankrupt last year. It says that 3.7 million people die every year due to harmful cooking practices, with children and women being at risk.
The IEA said the unprecedented meeting in Paris was intended to be a “transformative moment,” its director of sustainability and technology, Laura Cozzi, told reporters. The problem “affects gender, forests, climate change, energy, health,” Cozzi added.
A third of the world’s population uses fossil fuels that produce harmful emissions when burned, including wood, coal, coal, animal manure and agricultural waste. They pollute indoor and outdoor air with fine particles that enter the lungs and cause multiple respiratory and cardiovascular problems, including cancer and stroke.
These culinary practices are the third cause of premature death in the world and the second in Africa. In children, they are the main cause of pneumonia, experts said.
They also prevent women and children from going to school or getting paid, as they spend long hours looking for fuel. The conference at the UNESCO headquarters will focus on Africa with the aim of obtaining financial support to promote this issue effectively.
Great value for money
Their greenhouse gas emissions combined with the use of basic stoves and cutting down of trees due to the collection of trees also contribute significantly to global warming. Switching to cleaner cooking methods, such as LPG or electric cooking, will save 1.5 billion CO2 per year by 2030, which is about the same amount of money that ships and airplanes bring in last year, as According to the IEA.
LPG subsidies and free stoves in China, India and Indonesia led to a reduction in the number of people without access to clean cooking between 2010 and 2022. But the same is not true for Africa.
Four out of five families in sub-Saharan Africa still rely on highly polluting cooking oil and the situation is getting worse. “We see a lot of concerted efforts paying off in Kenya, Ghana and Tanzania,” said IEA expert Dan Wetzel.
“But what we’re really seeing is that population growth is driving growth in this area.”
This investment represents only a small part of the global investment in energy, the IEA stressed. The estimated $8 billion annual demand worldwide represents less than 1% of public spending on the energy system in 2022.
Of this sum, Sub-Saharan Africa will need four billion dollars. Current global investment in clean cooking is approximately US $2.5 billion.
“Dollar for dollar, it’s hard to imagine a single intervention that could be more value for money in terms of health and development than this,” Wetzel said.
Such financial support is essential as many African households cannot afford a suitable cooker or fuel.
But the IEA also recommends strong national leadership as well as grassroots efforts to change social norms.
