15
ACCESS DEFICITS Most of the global population without access to clean cook- ing is located in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. While access rates in Asia are much higher (e.g., 68 percent in India and 87 percent in China), Asia still accounts for 55 percent of the global population without access to clean cooking due to its larger population size. India represents the largest share of the global access deficit with 360 million people lacking access, followed by China with 175 million. However, the ac- cess deficit has decreased consistently in East and South- east Asia since 2000 and in Central Asia and Southern Asia since 2010. Access deficits in sub-Saharan Africa have shown a clear upward trend, as the clean cooking transition has failed to keep pace with the region’s growing populations. Across sub-Saharan Africa, the population increased by an average of 26 million per year between 2010 and 2019, out- stripping access gains of eight million per year. The total number of people without access in Africa therefore contin- ues to grow at a rate of nearly 20 million people per year. If the trends continue, by 2030 three out of five people with- out access to clean cooking will live in sub-Saharan Africa. 26 Overall, the SDG target 7.1.2 of universal access to clean cook- ing is well off-track. The are many reasons for this, including the affordability of clean cooking solutions, consumer choice and value perception, the underfunding of the sector and a lack of awareness alternatives to traditional cooking prac- tices. Many countries are unlikely to reach universal access even by the 2050s unless there is a substantial increase in both the rate of investment and government prioritization. If current trends continue, an estimated 21 percent of the global population, more than a fifth of all people, will still lack access to clean cooking, leaving nearly 1.8 billion people ex- posed to the adverse health, environmental and economic effects of polluting cooking fuels and technologies. 27
FIGURE 2: Population (in millions) without access to clean cooking in sub-Saharan Africa and developing Asia stated policies scenario.
2100 1800 1500 1200 900 600 300 0
Developing Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa
2010
2015
2020 2025
2030
Source: IEA
People exposed to polluting cooking fuels and technologies by 2030:
1.8 BILLION
26 IEA, IRENA, UNSD, World Bank, WHO (2024) Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report, https://trackingsdg7.esmap.org/data/files/download- documents/sdg7-report2023-ch2._access_to_clean_cooking.pdf 27 IEA, IRENA, UNSD, World Bank, WHO (2024) Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report, https://www.iea.org/reports/tracking-sdg7-the-energy- progress-report-2024
1. THE CLEAN COOKING AGENDA
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