Leaders at COP31 seek to accelerate clean cooking progress in Africa ahead of Nairobi Summit

Progress in expanding access to clean cooking across Africa is gathering pace, but nearly 1 billion people on the continent still lack access to clean cooking solutions. Against this backdrop, leaders meeting at COP31 in Antalya today called for stronger investment and international cooperation to build on recent gains ahead of the second Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa, taking place in Nairobi in January 2027.

Convened by the IEA, Türkiye's COP31 Presidency and the United Republic of Tanzania, the  Leaders' Roundtable on Clean Cooking in Africa brought together heads of state, ministers, international organisations, development finance institutions and industry leaders to sustain momentum on recent clean cooking progress ahead of the second Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa.

The event was moderated by IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol and opened by Vice-President Cevdet Yılmaz of Türkiye and President Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania. Other high-level participants included President Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo and Deputy Prime Minister Nthomeng Majara of Lesotho. Speakers included Norway's Minister of Climate and Environment Sigrun Aasland, UNDP Administrator Alexander De Croo, OPEC Fund President Abdulhamid Alkhalifa and COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev.

Participants stressed that clean cooking remains one of the most pressing energy, health and climate challenges of our time. Reliance on polluting cooking fuels and technologies  contributes to around 850 000 premature deaths each year across Africa. The burden falls hardest on women and children, who often spend hours each day collecting fuel and cooking. Discussions highlighted the need to expand access not only for households but also schools, hospitals and other public institutions, while supporting local and women-led enterprises and mobilising the finance and partnerships needed to deliver solutions at scale.

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said: “Access to clean cooking remains one of the most urgent and overlooked energy challenges facing Africa today. We are encouraged by the progress we have seen since we hosted our first Summit in Paris two years ago, with more funding reaching projects on the ground and more households gaining access to modern cooking solutions. But there is still far more to be done. Nearly 1 billion people across the continent still lack access to clean and safe ways to cook their meals, with serious consequences for health and livelihoods – particularly for women and children, who bear the greatest burden. I would like to thank our co-chairs for their leadership in keeping this issue high on the international agenda. Our priority now is to ensure the Nairobi Summit brings further commitments and, above all, faster progress in getting clean cooking solutions to the people who need them.”

Vice-President Cevdet Yılmaz of Türkiye said: “Clean cooking is not only an energy issue. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people die prematurely, most of them women and children. Solving clean cooking means healthier families, stronger women and more sustainable societies. It is important that we move forward together and mobilise finance, through the concerted effort of governments, international organisations, developments banks and the private sector. As Türkiye, we believe this is a pressing issue that requires urgent and collective action and implementation.”

President Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania said: “Our success must be measured not only by the resources we mobilise, but by the number of families gaining access to affordable, reliable and sustainable clean cooking solutions. Clean cooking is an investment in human development, women’s empowerment, economic opportunity and climate resilience.”

The roundtable built on momentum since the first Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa, hosted by the IEA in Paris in 2024, which mobilised more than USD 2.2 billion in new financial commitments. More than a third of that funding has since been deployed in projects across 28 African countries, while governments have introduced more than 120 new clean cooking policies. The pace at which people are gaining access to clean cooking in Africa is now 30% higher than the average over the past five years, despite headwinds from disruptions to energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz.

Attention is now turning to Nairobi, where the second Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa will take place in Nairobi on 27–28 January 2027. Co-chaired by Kenya, Norway, the United States and the IEA, with support from the African Union and the African Development Bank Group, the Summit has already secured an additional USD 900 million in new financial commitments with more expected ahead of the meeting. Governments, institutions and companies have been invited to participate and match ambition with financing and delivery.

Speakers also highlighted how clean cooking has become an increasingly prominent part of the international energy and climate agenda, with successive COP Presidencies helping carry this momentum forward to next year’s summit in Nairobi.