As access to clean fuels and technologies for cooking moves higher on the global agenda, Africa is emerging as a priority. The International Energy Agency is now looking to the United States as a potential partner to accelerate progress.
Clean cooking in Africa, a persistent access gap
The Director of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, has long argued that access to clean cooking fuels and technologies in Africa deserves far greater attention at the global level. According to Axios, Birol is now exploring whether the United States could become a reliable partner in addressing this challenge.
Across the continent, the widespread use of firewood, charcoal, open fires and inefficient stoves remains a major health and economic burden. For this reason, clean cooking in Africa is increasingly discussed as an urgent development priority, tied to public health, energy access and sustainable growth.
The scale of the clean cooking challenge
According to the IEA’s latest report, Universal Access to Clean Cooking in Africa, nearly two billion people worldwide still lack access to cooking solutions considered clean. Most rely on highly polluting fuels that harm health, degrade the environment and slow economic progress. The impacts fall disproportionately on women and girls, worsening gender inequality and undermining household economic security. Yet the agency stresses that this crisis could be addressed with existing technologies and relatively modest investment levels.
In Africa, almost four households out of five still depend on traditional cooking fuels. Women and girls often spend hours each day collecting firewood and cooking over smoky stoves, inhaling toxic fumes. The routine preparation of daily meals using these fuels contributes to more than 800,000 premature deaths every year across the continent.
Global momentum behind clean cooking initiatives
The first global summit dedicated to clean cooking in Africa was held in Paris in May 2024. The event mobilised USD 2.2 billion in financial commitments from national governments and the private sector. Nearly 60 countries took part, alongside international organisations and chief executives from major energy companies.
From pledges to implementation
In July 2025, the IEA reported that more than USD 470 million of the commitments announced in Paris had already been translated into concrete action. The agency also presented a new roadmap outlining a cost-effective pathway to universal access to non-polluting cooking solutions across sub-Saharan Africa by 2040.
Building on this momentum, the IEA is now seeking additional commitments through a second summit scheduled for next year in Kenya. The event will be co-chaired by the US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Kenyan President William Ruto, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, and Fatih Birol.
The agency has identified several technology pathways, including liquefied petroleum gas, advanced biomass cookstoves, biogas and electrification. However, the IEA has also cautioned that universal access to electricity in Africa remains a distant goal, despite technological progress and rising investment.
The United States as a potential partner
Birol is seeking stronger equity-based financing to scale clean cooking solutions and sees an opportunity in the United States’ upcoming G20 presidency. He plans to engage with US officials to elevate the issue within international policy discussions.
Political headwinds and strategic convergence
This strategy faces clear obstacles. Officials from the Trump administration have criticised the IEA, arguing that it has focused too heavily on climate issues. At the same time, the US government is sharply reducing international aid flows to other countries. Despite this, Birol believes there is room for alignment with the US president on clean cooking, framing it as a health, development and energy security issue rather than a purely climate-driven agenda.
Birol has also confirmed that clean cooking in Africa will feature on the agenda of the next World Economic Forum meeting in Davos and at the IEA ministerial session scheduled for February.
