Al Shaimaa Al-Sheiby, OPEC Fund, and Mikael Melin, Sustainable Energy for All
Jide Okeke, United Nations Development Programme
Modibo Sacko, technical adviser of the Minister of Environment, Sanitation and Sustainable Development, Mali
NOVEMBER 11
Cooking up a clean, green future A verting climate change is about more than converting power plants; it also involves upgrading millions of cookstoves. During a panel on clean cooking in Africa, Ms. Al-Sheiby, set out the challenge: “In Africa alone, 2.4 billion people still use cooking fuels such as biomass, coal or wood, which are detrimental to their health and the environment.” The consequences are grave: indoor air pollution from traditional cooking fuels causes millions of deaths every year, according to SEforALL, represented at the discussion by head of Clean Cooking Access Mikael Melin. The estimated cost worldwide is US$2.4 trillion, the organization says. Despite the growing realization of the scale of the task at hand, funding remains far behind actual needs. The OPEC Fund teamed up with SEforALL and the UNCDF to create
• Decreasing biomass fuel consumption, • Preserving biodiversity and decreasing CO 2 emissions, • Investing in reforestation and ecotourism, and • Increasing agricultural revenue. Clean cooking also has another dimension, as underlined by Jide Okeke of the United Nations Development Programme: “In many communities, the burden of household duties disproportionately falls on women. As a result, it is women who pay the highest social
the climate hub that will launch a clean cooking pilot project in
Madagascar, the island nation in the Indian Ocean heavily affected by rapid deforestation. As Ms. Al-Sheiby told the audience, the OPEC Fund aims to accelerate the deployment of clean cooking solutions to maximize impact by: • Providing households with improved clean cookstoves using solar energy, ethanol, biogas and LPG, • Improving health conditions of rural population,
and health cost of the lack of access to clean cooking.” The introduction of clean cooking alternatives is set to unlock opportunities for women and strengthen their societal and economic position.
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