A lack of clean cooking continues to have profound impacts on public health, women’s equality, economic development, and the environment. Globally, a lack of clean cooking contributes to around 3 million premature deaths each year, with women and children facing the greatest exposure, and accounts for annual emissions equivalent to 1.2 Gt CO₂-eq, roughly equivalent to the global CO₂ emissions from international aviation and shipping. The challenge is most severe in sub-Saharan Africa, where four out of five households lack clean cooking access today.

To spur global action on the issue, the International Energy Agency (IEA) convened the Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa with the objective of making 2024 a turning point. The Summit resulted in USD 2.2 billion in public and private sector commitments, alongside pledges by twelve African governments to implement new clean cooking policies. Based on tracking by the IEA, USD 470 million has been disbursed against the commitments as of the end of June 2025. This exceeds the annualised disbursements needed to fulfil these commitments by 2030.

Eight of the twelve countries that made pledges at the IEA Summit implemented new clean cooking policies since 2024, with Tanzania and Kenya demonstrating the largest increase in policy coverage since 2024. Amongst the African population that does not have access to clean cooking, three-quarters today live in countries that have improved their clean cooking policies since the start of 2024. Today, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe are the sub-Saharan Africa countries that have the widest coverage of key clean cooking policies.

Over the past five years, around 13 million people gained clean cooking access in sub‑Saharan Africa each year, 20% more than the average in the past decade, led by progress in West Africa and East Africa. On average around 12 million Africans per year gained access through liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), another 1 million gained access via other clean cooking solutions. In addition, 4 million gained transitional cooking solutions through Tier 3 improved biomass cookstoves each year over the same period.

Clean cooking investment in Africa rose to its highest year on record in 2023, reaching USD 675 million – a growth of around 10% year-on-year. Over the past five years, around 80% of investment went toward LPG cooking and related infrastructure, with a notable uptick in 2023. International development was responsible for roughly 15% of total financial flows to the sector in 2023, totalling around USD 150 million – the largest single year since 2019. Carbon credits revenues also grew in 2023 and now represent roughly 10% of financial flows to the sector.