New $900 million pledge to expand clean cooking in Africa

African nations have secured $900 million in new funding to expand access to clean cooking technologies, bringing total commitments to more than $3.1 billion since last year's Africa Clean Cooking Summit.

The investment will help replace charcoal and firewood with cleaner fuels and modern cooking technologies across the continent.

The International Energy Agency says nearly one billion Africans still rely on polluting fuels, contributing to an estimated 850,000 premature deaths every year, with women and children among the hardest hit.

Speaking during a high-level virtual meeting, Kenyan President William Ruto said financing remains the biggest obstacle to achieving universal access to clean cooking, stressing that ambition must be matched by investment.

The IEA says around 740 million dollars from previous pledges has already been deployed across 22 African countries, while governments have introduced more than 120 new clean cooking policies since 2024.

The agency has also launched a new programme to strengthen global cooking fuel supply chains following disruptions to LPG shipments through the Strait of Hormuz earlier this year, as Africa pushes to accelerate the transition to cleaner, safer and more sustainable cooking.