By Lynn Wairimu Ngatia
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 30- Climate change poses a significant threat to the sustainability and inclusivity of our societies, underscoring the urgent need for comprehensive and coordinated climate action.
This entails a fundamental shift in key economic systems towards clean energy, smart urban development, sustainable land use and water management, and a circular industrial economy.
You might wonder about the relevance of clean cooking in this context. The importance of integrating clean cooking into the energy access agenda lies in delivering systemic solutions aligned with housing initiatives, as part of the broader transition to clean energy solutions.
Clean energy emerges as a critical and cost-effective tool to mitigate carbon emissions, enhance public health, and safeguard the environment concurrently.
Clean cooking, as defined by the International Energy Agency (IEA, 2017), involves access to safer and more sustainable cooking and heating fuels and stoves compared to traditional biomass stoves. Shockingly, 2.4 billion people currently lack access to clean cooking, incurring global damages exceeding 2.4 trillion US dollars and contributing to 3.2 million premature deaths annually due to illnesses attributed to household air pollution.
It is crucial to recognize that global climate and development goals cannot be achieved without addressing the way people cook.
Despite this, access to clean cooking remains one of the most underinvested health and environmental challenges globally, presenting an ironic oversight given the fundamental role of cooking in daily life.
The benefits of embracing clean cooking extend beyond mitigating climate change to positively impact communities and nature.
Firstly, it reduces direct emissions of climate pollutants, with domestic cooking currently contributing 1.9%-2.3% of global greenhouse gas emissions and up to 25% of annual black carbon emissions.
Highly efficient stoves can substantially cut fuel use by 30%-60%, reducing carbon dioxide and black carbon emissions.
Secondly, clean cooking helps conserve the environment by lessening the pressure on deforestation.
Transitioning from traditional open fires to clean cookstoves enables the burning of small-diameter wood, reducing or eliminating the need to cut down trees.
Moreover, clean cooking contributes to biodiversity conservation by curbing forest extraction and preserving habitat, thereby fostering higher levels of diversity in terms of indigenous tree species and wildlife.
Additionally, it improves air quality, diminishing the negative health impacts of air pollution and consequently reducing the 3.2 million premature deaths associated with household air pollution.
Clean cooking also saves time for women and children, traditionally responsible for fuel gathering, enabling them to engage in higher-value income-generating activities and fostering gender equality and economic well-being.
In conclusion, the significance of clean cooking cannot be overstated. Transitioning to clean and efficient cooking solutions not only helps combat climate change but also promotes gender equality, reduces poverty, improves livelihoods, and delivers major health benefits.
Achieving universal access to clean cooking solutions is integral to the roadmap towards a net-zero world, emphasizing the transformative potential of this overlooked yet essential component of sustainable development.
The writer is Clean Cooking Association of Kenya Communications Officer
