Delivering electricity and clean cooking for all

Energy Access

Universal Access to Clean Cooking in Africa

Progress update and roadmap for implementation

X7a8819 Universal Access To Clean Cooking In Africa

Today, 730 million people around the world live without access to electricity, while over 2 billion people continue to rely on harmful cooking fuels such as charcoal, wood, agricultural waste and animal dung – the use of which is a leading cause of premature death and serious health issues in many of the poorest regions of the world.

The IEA is at the forefront of efforts to track and address global gaps in energy access. For more than two decades, the Agency has collected and published data on this subject – with a focus on making energy access universal, secure and affordable. To support financial and policy momentum towards these goals, the IEA and its partners hosted the landmark 2024 Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa, which led to $2.2 billion in financial commitments from governments and industry for clean cooking. The second IEA Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa will take place in Nairobi, Kenya, in July 2026.

Access to electricity

Access to electricity stagnates, leaving globally 730 million in the dark

New scenario shows pathway to universal electricity access within a decade

Progress on electricity access has been remarkable in recent decades. Since 2000, the number of people without electricity has fallen by almost a billion, and 40 countries have reached near-universal access. After setbacks related to the Covid-19 pandemic and the global energy crisis, the global trend is once again downward, though the pace of progress remains well below that achieved over the previous decade. On the basis of current trends, around 710 million people are projected to remain without access to electricity in 2030, and 650 million in 2050.

That said, replicating the fastest electrification progress achieved, universal access to electricity could be reached within just a decade. The IEA’s ACCESS Scenario sees an average of 80 million people gain access to electricity each year to 2035. This hinges on the rapid deployment of grids, mini-grids and stand-alone systems – especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where 80% of people without access to electricity live today.

World Energy Outlook 2025

Population without access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa by scenario, 2010-2050

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Insufficient capital remains one of the biggest barriers to expanding electricity access for the roughly 600 million people in Africa who currently live without it

Recent analysis by the IEA features first-of-its-kind tracking of investment flows for new electricity connections, while highlighting essential tools to unlock greater financing for closing the access gap. It finds that despite a challenging macroeconomic backdrop, mounting pressures on domestic budgets in African countries, and recent cuts to development aid, universal access to electricity across sub-Saharan Africa can be achieved by 2035 with the right enabling conditions and strong action by governments, the private sector and development finance institutions. Drawing on successful strategies that have helped eliminate electricity access gaps in other regions, it outlines how this goal could be realised in practice.

Financing Electricity Access in Africa

Annual average investment need in ACCESS scenario, sub-Saharan Africa, 2019-2035

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Clean cooking in Africa

Roadmap shows how Africa could reach full access to clean cooking by 2040

Today, four in five families across Africa cook with fuels that harm their health and the environment. These practices contribute to over 800,000 premature deaths each year due to household air pollution – mostly among women and children. And they trap millions more in poverty, with significant impacts on health, gender equality and economic opportunity.

But African countries can close one of the continent’s most harmful energy and development gaps in just 15 years if they replicate the progress seen in other developing economies, according to recent IEA analysis, which shows how universal access to clean cooking could be achieved across sub-Saharan Africa by 2040.

Universal Access to Clean Cooking in Africa

Population without access to clean cooking in sub-Saharan Africa by scenario, 2010-2050

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Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa: Towards a turning point on clean cooking

More than 1 billion people who currently lack access to clean cooking are in sub-Saharan Africa. Co-chaired by the leaders of the governments of Tanzania and Norway, and the African Development Bank and the IEA, the Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa, held in May 2024, aimed to address this major inequity and deliver a turning point on this crucial issue.

The Summit – which drew delegates from close to 60 countries, as well as companies and development institutions – set out concrete ways in which these groups can work together to solve the clean cooking challenge this decade. It also mobilised $2.2 billion in financial pledges from governments and the private sector, a record sum dedicated to clean cooking access at a single gathering.

More than $470 million of those commitments ha already been disbursed, IEA analysis published in July 2025 shows. In parallel, 10 out of 12 African governments that took part in the Summit have enacted or implemented new clean cooking policies. And more than 70% of people in Africa without access to clean cooking now live in countries that strengthened their policy frameworks since 2024.

"This Summit has delivered an emphatic commitment to an issue that has been ignored by too many people, for too long. We still have a long way to go, but the outcome of this Summit, $2.2 billion committed, can help support fundamental rights such as health, gender equality and education while also reducing emissions and restoring forests."

Additional information and outputs

Clean Cooking Alliance to integrate into the IEA in major step forward for international cooperation on clean cooking access

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Next steps in clean cooking

At its 2026 Ministerial Meeting, the IEA announced that its Member governments have approved hosting the Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA) as a multilateral initiative. The IEA and CCA will partner with governments and industry to tackle one of the world’s most pressing development challenges through strengthened in-country policy support, enhanced coordination with industry and the mobilisation of additional investment.

The announcement comes as the IEA prepares to host its second major international Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa, which will take place in Nairobi on 9-10 July, 2026 co-chaired by President William Ruto of Kenya, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre of Norway, United States Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.

Energy affordability

Electrification, renewables and efficiency are key to energy affordability around the world

The affordability of energy is always a concern for consumers and policy makers. But attention to this issue grew following price spikes for fossil fuels during the recent global energy crisis. In 2022, at the height of the crisis, consumers globally spent nearly $10 trillion on energy – an average of more than $1,200 for every person on Earth – even after subsidies and emergency support from governments were priced in. This was 20% more than the average over the previous five years, with high prices hitting the most vulnerable hardest both in developing and advanced economies.

Deploying energy technologies that support electrification, renewables and efficiency can improve the affordability of energy and relieve pressures on the cost of living more broadly. IEA data shows that scaling up and deploying such technologies requires additional investment initially – but it also reduces the global energy system's operating costs by more than half over the next decade, compared with a trajectory based on today’s policy settings. This results in a more affordable energy system for consumers.

Strategies for Affordable and Fair Clean Energy Transitions

Energy delivery costs by scenario, 2023 and 2035

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STEPS= Stated Policies Scenario; NZE= Net Zero Emissions Scenario.

Programmes and partnerships

Promoting sustainable and inclusive economic growth through energy data management and long-term planning in sub-Saharan Africa.

“An Affordable and Sustainable Energy System for Sub-Saharan Africa” (Energy Sub-Saharan Africa) is a five-year programme (2019-2024) funded by the European Union. It supports work with Benin, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Uganda and Zambia, with the aim of promoting sustainable and inclusive economic growth through the transition towards a low-carbon and climate-resilient energy sector, while delivering universal and affordable energy access to all.

Supporting African governments as they develop improved programmes and policies to accelerate electricity access.

The project by the IEA and Power Africa draws on the IEA’s expertise to support governments with data-driven insights as they work to expand electricity access.

Enhancing geospatial analysis to show pathways to universal electricity access.

This open-source GIS tool, developed in collaboration with the MIT Energy Initiative, was designed to estimate and forecast electricity demand at the building-level in developing economies. The tool leverages a machine learning model trained on geo-referenced data of electricity consumption sourced from utility meters in three pilot countries – Ghana, Senegal and Uganda. It can then predict electricity demand for buildings that lack meter data or have yet to be electrified with high resolution and high accuracy. The tool can be applied to satellite images of entire countries, and produce significantly improved estimates for planners, utilities, and off-grid solar companies to identify target customers and communities.