Clean cooking may save lives of 4.7 million people in Africa: IEA report

Nursery Today    22-Jul-2025
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Paris: The International Energy Agency (IEA) has unveiled in its report that one billion Africans still cook using open fires or harmful fuels. This way cooking caused health issues and damaged the environment. Greenhouse gas emissions occur due to cooking with wood, charcoal, or waste, increasing pollution levels. Due to the excess use of wood, forests are being cut on a massive scale that is responsible for climate change.
 

Across the world, two billion people still cook this way. In Africa, four out of five households rely on such methods, which release dangerous smoke that causes lung and heart diseases. About 815,000 Africans die early each year because of this pollution. Women and children are most affected, spending hours daily collecting fuel and tending fires. This takes time away from work and school.

The IEA says this problem can be solved. A clean cooking summit in Paris last year raised $2.2 billion in pledges. Since then, $470 million has already been spent on solutions like clean stoves in Malawi, Uganda, and Ivory Coast.

 

This issue can be solved by 2040 through a $2 billion annual investment—just 0.1% of global energy spending. The use of cleaner fuels such as LPG and solar power can save the lives of at least 4.7 million people, and they would cut emissions on a large scale in the entire continent.

 
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