Africa Still Waiting for Two-Thirds of Clean Cooking Cash as Tanzania, Uganda and Lesotho Count Progress

Three African nations — Tanzania, Lesotho and Uganda — stepped forward at a high-level COP31 roundtable in Antalya, Türkiye this month to showcase meaningful strides in expanding clean cooking access to their populations. Yet the gathering was overshadowed by a stark financial reality: of the US$2.2 billion pledged at the first Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa in Paris in 2024, nearly two-thirds — approximately US$1.46 billion — has not yet reached the continent.

The Leaders' Roundtable on Clean Cooking in Africa, held on 12 November and co-hosted by the COP31 Presidency of Türkiye, Tanzania, the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Clean Cooking Alliance, brought together heads of state, senior officials and energy leaders to assess progress and press for urgency on a crisis that affects hundreds of millions of Africans who still cook with wood, charcoal or other polluting fuels.

What the three countries have achieved

Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan delivered perhaps the most striking update. Clean cooking access in the country has more than doubled in a short period — rising from 16 per cent in 2022 and reaching 28.6 per cent by March 2024, with a target of 35 per cent by end of 2026. The government has distributed over 346,000 subsidised LPG cylinders, nearly 49,000 induction stoves and 7,000 electric cookers. Through the Cook Fund programme, more than 413,000 households — benefiting close to two million people — have gained access to cleaner solutions, cutting an estimated 3.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. The programme has also reached schools housing over 62,000 students.

Lesotho's Deputy Prime Minister Justice Nthomeng Majara highlighted that her country's energy challenge extends beyond cooking to space heating — a crucial distinction for a mountainous nation with cold winters. Lesotho piloted electric pressure cookers in five schools in 2022 and is now producing improved cookstoves locally. A renewable energy initiative aims to develop over 9,000 improved cookstoves by 2028, with 60 per cent reserved for female-headed households — a deliberate move to tackle both energy poverty and gender inequality simultaneously.

Uganda's representative outlined an ambitious national target: 50 per cent clean cooking access by 2030, with universal access aimed for by 2040. The country has introduced a dedicated electric cooking tariff and is piloting electric cooking in schools. President Yoweri Museveni has also issued an executive order banning charcoal — though officials acknowledged that affordability and availability of alternatives remain significant hurdles.

Why it matters for Ghana

Ghana faces a broadly similar clean cooking challenge. A large proportion of Ghanaian households — particularly in rural areas and low-income urban communities — continue to rely on charcoal and firewood for daily cooking. This carries serious consequences: indoor air pollution from these fuels is a leading cause of respiratory illness, disproportionately harming women and children who spend the most time near cooking fires. Deforestation driven by charcoal production also threatens Ghana's forest cover and climate commitments.

Ghana has made some policy moves in this space, including LPG promotion programmes and periodic subsidies, but scaling up access remains difficult without sustained financing. The funding gap highlighted at COP31 is therefore directly relevant. IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol told the roundtable plainly: funding of this scale is not beyond the world's means. The OPEC Fund for International Development's president noted that the estimated US$4 billion Africa needs annually for clean cooking is less than what the world invests in energy in a single day.

Kenya's special envoy, Ambassador Ali Mohamed, speaking on behalf of President William Ruto, stressed that the continent needs at least US$2 billion every year — a figure that underlines just how far current disbursements fall short. The European Commission noted it has mobilised over 400 million euros through the Team Europe initiative for clean cooking across Africa.

The funding gap remains the central problem

Of the US$2.2 billion pledged in Paris, only roughly US$740 million has been disbursed so far — channelled to 28 African countries for concrete projects including LPG infrastructure in Kenya and new stove manufacturing facilities in Nigeria. President Samia said a further US$900 million has since been mobilised, bringing total commitments to around US$3.1 billion. But commitments and disbursements are very different things, and the gap between what is promised and what arrives on the ground remains the defining obstacle.

Both Uganda and Lesotho made explicit calls for concessional financing, results-based funding mechanisms and private sector involvement to make technologies genuinely affordable for rural and low-income households. For Ghana and the broader West African region, the message from Antalya is clear: the solutions exist, the political will is building, but the money must follow — and fast.