African countries have secured $900 million in new financial commitments to expand access to clean cooking technologies, with the pledge announced during a virtual meeting convened by the International Energy Agency and Kenya on Thursday. The new funding builds on the $2.2 billion mobilized at the inaugural Africa Clean Cooking Summit in Paris in 2024, bringing total commitments to more than $3.1 billion aimed at expanding access to cleaner cooking fuels, stoves and related infrastructure across the continent.
The virtual session brought together major international leaders including Kenyan President William Ruto, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and African Union Commissioner for Energy and Infrastructure Lerato Mataboge, alongside International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol. The meeting was convened by the co-chairs of the second Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa, which had been scheduled for July 9-10 in Nairobi but was postponed due to travel and participation uncertainties.
Nearly 1 billion people across Africa still lack access to clean cooking, relying instead on charcoal, firewood and other polluting fuels that contribute to an estimated 850,000 premature deaths each year. Clean cooking refers to the use of low-emission fuels and technologies such as ethanol, biogas and electricity, which reduce harmful household air pollution and improve health outcomes for millions of African households.
According to the International Energy Agency’s latest tracking, $740 million—about one-third of the commitments announced in Paris—has already been deployed across 22 African countries in just two years. Birol stated that the additional $900 million in commitments demonstrates growing momentum, with more expected before the next summit.
Beyond financial commitments, significant policy progress is underway. The IEA released a report showing that governments have introduced 121 new clean cooking policies across more than 30 African countries since the Paris summit. These countries account for approximately 80 percent of Africans without access to clean cooking. The International Energy Agency is working with the African Union to help governments strengthen national clean cooking policies under a continent-wide strategy and action plan ahead of the next summit.
The agency also launched a new public-private Clean Cooking Security Programme aimed at strengthening global supply chains for cooking fuels, particularly liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG. The initiative responds to recent shipping disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz that affected a significant portion of globally traded LPG.
Kenyan President Ruto emphasized that financing remains the biggest obstacle to achieving universal access to clean cooking technologies across Africa. He noted that Kenya alone needs approximately 56.5 billion Kenyan shillings to provide universal household access and a further 76.7 billion shillings to transition institutions to cleaner energy sources. “Ambition alone is not enough. It must be backed by investment,” Ruto said. The President called for urgent investments and stronger international partnerships to accelerate clean cooking solutions, warning that the continent risks missing key development targets if progress slows.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright described access to clean cooking as “one of the most impactful yet overlooked challenges of our time,” noting that it directly affects the lives of billions of people, particularly women and children. The meeting emphasized that expanding clean cooking access is essential for improving public health, energy security, economic development and climate outcomes.
The African Development Bank increased its clean cooking financing approximately tenfold since the inaugural 2024 summit, with its president calling on additional partners to match the growing level of investment. The co-chairs agreed to maintain clean cooking as a priority through international forums including the United Nations General Assembly, the G20, and the UN Climate Change Conference, while working toward stronger commitments at the rescheduled physical summit later this year.
Kenya announced it will become a founding member of the newly integrated Clean Cooking Alliance under the International Energy Agency. The country has already established Africa’s first Clean Cooking Delivery Unit aimed at accelerating the uptake of cleaner cooking technologies in public institutions. Kenya’s National Cooking Transition Strategy targets nationwide adoption of clean cooking technologies by 2028.
Despite the postponement of the full summit, leaders stressed that momentum behind Africa’s clean cooking agenda remains strong. The virtual meeting maintained engagement among stakeholders and showcased progress made since the inaugural gathering in 2024. However, leaders acknowledged that achieving universal access will require substantially greater investment to serve the nearly 1 billion Africans who still lack access to clean cooking, with estimates suggesting that $37 billion in cumulative investment is needed through 2040 to significantly accelerate the pace of change.