This statement, authored by African Civil Society Organizations, is intended for the attention of organizers and participants of the IEA Clean Cooking in Africa Summit, scheduled to take place on Tuesday, May 14th, 2024, in Paris, France. We present this statement with a profound sense of duty and responsibility towards the future of the African continent. As we stand on the brink of transformative change, it is crucial that our voices, representing a diverse mosaic of cultures, communities, and interests, are heard.

To initiate a meaningful dialogue ahead, during and after the summit, we urge you to:

1. Ensure and guarantee inclusion of community and CSO voices in the global clean cooking discourse. The IEA has indicated that the Summit will bring together over 800 stakeholders from governments, private sector, development partners, international organizations, philanthropies and civil society. From the participants list published by the IEA, it is clear that there was hardly any participation of CSOs from Africa, yet the agenda of the forum was to chart a way forward on accelerating progress of clean cooking in Africa. According to the UN SDG7 Tracking report-2021, four out of ten people without access to clean cooking live in Africa and most end-users rely heavily on biomass fuels for their cooking. African CSOs work directly with communities to address the challenges they face. Civil society groups play a key role in policy development on clean cooking, creating awareness on clean cooking technologies, demystifying cultural beliefs and practices that hinder clean cooking transitions, and building trust in the uptake of new technologies and approaches. The involvement of African partners should therefore be as inclusive and transparent as possible. And it must be done in a way that promotes equality and meaningful dialogue to ensure that the genuine needs and interests of Africans are reflected in any collective outcomes.
2. Increase financial and technological flow for clean cooking solutions by and for Africa. There is an urgent need to provide affordable access to cleaner and modern cooking solutions swiftly. At COP28, the IEA declared that Africa needed an annual investment of USD 4 billion to achieve universal access to clean cooking on the continent by 2030. Therefore, we demand increased public and private investments in clean cooking. Additional public funds should be directed towards de-risking markets and providing subsidies to address energy poverty in Africa. These finances should also be channeled to the end users, who shoulder the burden of assessing and transitioning to cleaner and safer cooking technologies.
3. Acknowledge the role of clean energy in fast-tracking clean cooking progress and Africa’s energy sovereignty. Africa possesses abundant untapped clean energy resources such as wind and solar that can be harnessed to accelerate the adoption of clean cooking solutions. Several multilateral development banks and private financial institutions persist in advocating for LPG as part of the transition to clean cooking. Research has shown that while LPG initially offered short-term benefits in Africa, its long-term efficacy in rural areas has fallen short of expectations. Our position is very clear, more investments need to be directed towards solar, wind and other clean forms of energy, including decentralized renewable energy systems. Bridging the energy gap is the best approach to achieving clean cooking targets by 2030.
4. Acknowledge and appreciate that access to clean forms of cooking as an important part of Africa’s development, energy and manufacturing plan. Solving the cooking challenge is not a charitable endeavour by donors, but a national and continental responsibility that calls for policy prioritization in each country and collaboration across the continent.
5. Appreciate that addressing the cooking challenge must be driven by social and public responsibility, not markets. Public grants and concessional finance play a catalytic role in addition to and scaling up of private sector investments. Private capital can only play a role under regulated conditions.
6. Desist from proffering false solutions that will prolong the crisis. Carbon credits must play no role in financing clean cooking. Carbon markets are a distraction to the mission of meeting basic needs guaranteed almost everywhere on the planet.
7. Advance a holistic approach to clean cooking. Access and use of (clean and affordable) energy should go beyond cooking. Every African household deserves to have energy for use in farming and food storage. Every African household deserves to own a fridge as nearly everyone in the developed world does. #PowerShiftAfrica #ClimateActionNetwork