Clean cooking commitments pass $3.1 billion as a supply shock reaches the kitchen
New pledges of $900 million were announced on 9 July at a virtual meeting of the co-chairs, after the Nairobi summit was postponed. A new programme responds to Strait of Hormuz disruption that the IEA says affected 30 per cent of globally traded LPG.
New financial commitments of $900 million for clean cooking in Africa were announced on 9 July, taking the total since the inaugural Paris summit in 2024 to more than $3.1 billion. The announcement came at a high-level virtual meeting convened by the co-chairs of the second Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa, which had been due to take place in Nairobi that week and has been postponed.
Money already committed is moving. Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, said $740 million of the Paris commitments, around a third, has been deployed across 22 African countries. A progress report released alongside the meeting recorded 121 clean cooking policies introduced across more than 30 African countries since the first summit, covering roughly 80 per cent of the continent’s population without access.
A new programme arrived with the money. The Clean Cooking Security Programme will provide policy and market assistance on domestic fuel security, in response to a supply shock this year. The agency records that disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz affected 30 per cent of globally traded liquefied petroleum gas, which is the primary cooking fuel for more than 3.4 billion people worldwide.
The meeting also marked the first plenary of the Clean Cooking Alliance in its new form as a multilateral initiative hosted by the IEA, which welcomed twelve member countries with others considering membership. The Alliance is intended to support country-led implementation and turn commitments into delivery.
President William Ruto of Kenya, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre of Norway, United States Energy Secretary Chris Wright, African Union Commissioner for Energy and Infrastructure Lerato Mataboge and Birol all took part. Ruto put the constraint plainly, saying that ambition alone is not enough and must be backed by investment.
Nearly a billion people across Africa still cook on charcoal, firewood and other polluting fuels, roughly double the number without electricity, contributing to an estimated 850,000 premature deaths each year. Birol said more commitments are expected before the next summit, which is now due later this year.
