COP 31: Tanzania, Lesotho, Uganda share clean cooking gains as US$1.46bn in pledges is yet to arrive

Tanzania, Lesotho and Uganda have shared how they are expanding clean cooking at home, as leaders at COP31 warned that most of the money promised to help Africa make the switch is yet to arrive.

The countries presented their progress at a Leaders’ Roundtable on Clean Cooking in Africa in Antalya, Türkiye, on 12 November, co-hosted by the COP31 Presidency of Türkiye, Tanzania, the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Clean Cooking Alliance.

“I’m pleased to report that clean cooking access in Tanzania has increased from 16% in 2022,” President Samia Suluhu Hassan told the roundtable. She said access reached 28.6 per cent in March 2024 and is expected to hit 35 per cent by the end of 2026 (more than double in four years).

She credited rural electrification, lower electricity tariffs for cooking, subsidies for LPG equipment and tax incentives. “As of March 2026, the government has facilitated distribution of more than 346,000 subsidized LPG cylinders alongside over 49,000 induction stoves and 7,000 electric cookers,” she said.

Through the Cook Fund programme, “more than 413,000 household benefiting nearly 2 million people have gained access to clean cooking solutions,” she said, adding that the programme has reached 45 public institutions, including schools with more than 62,000 students, and cut an estimated 3.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

“We are also extending clean cooking solutions beyond households to schools, hospitals, and other public institutions like prisons,” President Samia said.

For Lesotho, the challenge goes beyond the kitchen. “Our household energy requirements extend beyond cooking to include space heating,” said Deputy Prime Minister Justice Nthomeng Majara.

She said Lesotho piloted electric pressure cookers in five schools in 2022 with the World Food Programme and the Modern Energy Cooking Services programme, and that improved cookstoves are now being made locally. A renewable energy initiative, she said, “envisages the development of 9,194 improved cook stoves by the year 2028 with 60% earmarked for female headed households.”

“This is an important demonstration of how targeted financing can address both energy poverty and gender inequalities,” she said.

“Uganda recognizes that access to clean cooking is not merely an energy issue,” said Uganda President Yoweri Museveni’s representative. Uganda’s strategy aims for universal access to clean cooking “by 2040 with an intermediate target of 50% access by 2030,” she said.

She said Uganda has introduced a dedicated electric cooking tariff, is piloting electric cooking in schools, and that President Museveni has issued Executive Order No. 3 banning charcoal. The availability and cost of alternatives, she said, remain a challenge.

Uganda and Lesotho called for more finance. “We particularly recognize the importance of concessional financing, private sector investment, and targeted support to make clean cooking solutions affordable and accessible,” the Ugandan representative said.

Justice Majara said: “We need concessional financing grants, innovative financing instruments and results-based financing to make clean cooking technologies affordable, particularly for low-income and rural households.”

At the first Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa in Paris in 2024, leaders pledged US$2.2 billion. IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol told the roundtable that about a third of it, some US$740 million, has been disbursed, leaving about US$1.46 billion (two-thirds) still to come.

“Where did this money go? It went to 28 African countries supporting concrete projects. To give you a few example, LPG, infrastructure and electric cooking in Kenya, new stove factories in Nigeria …,” Birol said.

President Samia said “approximately US dollar 740 million of the commitment made in Paris has been deployed across 22 African countries,” and that a further US$900 million had since been mobilised, bringing total commitments to about US$3.1 billion.

Kenya’s special envoy, Ambassador Ali Mohamed, speaking for President William Ruto, said Africa’s clean cooking challenge “requires at least $2 billion every year.” The President of the OPEC Fund for International Development, Abdulhamid Alkhalifa, said: “The IEA estimates that Africa needs $4 billion a year for clean cooking issue.”

Alkhalifa said that is “less than … what the world invest in energy in a single day.” He said the OPEC Fund supports clean cooking in Madagascar, Somalia, Sierra Leone and Tanzania, with more than 10 more African countries in its pipeline.

The European Commission said more than 400 million had been mobilised under the Team Europe approach to accelerate access to clean cooking in Africa.

“Why I say it’s a big injustice … because it is a easily solve problem if we have the finance for that,” Birol said.

Leaders will meet again at the second Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa in Nairobi, Kenya, on 27–28 January 2027, co-chaired by Birol and President Ruto.

“Clean cooking is not simply an energy issue but an investment in human development, women’s empowerment, economic opportunity, and climate resilience,” President Samia said.