Energy poverty and cooking

One aspect of energy poverty is lack of access to clean, modern fuels and technologies for cooking. As of 2020, more than 2.6 billion people in developing countries routinely cook with fuels such as wood, animal dung, coal, or kerosene. Burning these types of fuels in open fires or traditional stoves causes harmful household air pollution, resulting in an estimated 3.8 million deaths annually according to the World Health Organization (WHO), and contributes to various health, socio-economic, and environmental problems. The expansion of affordable clean cooking access is a component of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines clean cooking as the use of stoves and appliances powered by electricity, liquid petroleum gas (LPG), piped natural gas (PNG), biogas, alcohol, and solar heat meet WHO guidelines for clean cooking. Stoves that burn wood and other solid fuels more efficiently than traditional stoves are known as "improved cookstoves" or "clean cookstoves". With few exceptions, these stoves deliver fewer health benefits than stoves that use liquid or gaseous fuels. However, they reduce fuel usage and thus help prevent environmental degradation. Improved cookstoves are an important interim solution in areas where deploying cleaner technologies is less feasible. Initiatives to encourage cleaner cooking practices have yielded limited success. For various practical, cultural, and economic reasons, it is common for families who adopt clean stoves and fuels to continue to use traditional fuels and stoves frequently.

Issues with traditional cooking fuels

Health impacts

As of 2023, more than 2.3 billion people in developing countries rely on burning polluting biomass fuels such as wood, dry dung, coal, or kerosene for cooking, which causes harmful household air pollution and also contributes significantly to outdoor air pollution. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that cooking-related pollution causes 3.8 million annual deaths. The Global Burden of Disease study estimated the number of deaths in 2021 at 3.1 million, and the death rate is highest in Africa. Household air pollution from polluting cooking practices is associated with a wide range of adverse health outcomes. Exposure to fine particulate matter and toxic gases released during combustion has been linked to increased risks of stroke, pneumonia, and chronic respiratory conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In addition, exposure during pregnancy is associated with adverse birth outcomes, including low birth weight. In traditional cooking facilities, smoke is typically vented into the home rather than through a chimney. Solid fuel smoke contains thousands of substances, many of which are hazardous to human health. The most well understood of these substances are carbon monoxide (CO); small particulate matter; nitrous oxide; sulfur oxides; a range of volatile organic compounds, including formaldehyde, benzene and 1,3-butadiene; and polycyclic aromatic compounds, such as benzo-a-pyrene, which are thought to have both short and long-term health consequences. Exposure to household air pollution (HAP) nearly doubles the risk of childhood pneumonia and is responsible for 45 percent of all pneumonia deaths in children under five years of age. Emerging evidence shows that HAP is also a risk factor for cataracts, the leading cause of blindness in lower-middle-income countries, and low birth weight. Cooking with open fires or unsafe stoves is a leading cause of burns among women and children in developing countries.

Impacts on women and girls Health effects are concentrated among women, who are likely responsible for cooking and childcare. Gathering fuel exposes women and children to safety risks. This process often consumes 15 or more hours per week, constraining their time for education, rest, and paid work. Women and girls must often walk long distances to obtain cooking fuel, and, as a result, face increased risk of physical and sexual violence. Many children, particularly girls, may not attend school to help their mothers with firewood collection and food preparation.

Environmental impacts Traditional cooking facilities are highly inefficient, allowing heat to escape into the open air. The inefficiency of fuel burning results in more wood needing to be harvested and also causes emissions of black carbon, a contributor to climate change. Serious local environmental damage, including desertification, can be caused by excessive harvesting of wood and other combustible material. While biomass harvesting in sensitive areas is problematic, it is now determined that most biomass clearing is due to agricultural expansion and land conversion. Use of crop residue and animal waste for domestic energy has detrimental results on soil quality and agricultural and livestock productivity, as it means these materials are not available as soil conditioners, organic fertilizer, and livestock fodder.

Terminology The term "clean cookstove" has often been used without defining what the term means. Organizations vary in how they define "clean":

According to the WHO, cooking facilities are "clean" if their emissions of carbon monoxide and fine particulate matter are below certain levels. The Clean Cooking Alliance uses the term "clean cooking" more broadly. Its definition includes what the WHO refers to as "improved cookstoves", i.e. stoves that burn biomass fuel more efficiently than traditional stoves. As of 2020, most stoves that burn biomass fuel do not qualify as clean under WHO standards even if they are more efficient than traditional stoves. The WHO has criticized the marketing of biomass cookstoves as "improved" when they have not been tested against standards and their health benefits are unclear.

WHO-recommended clean cooking facilities

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