As Bill Gates Notes reported here, it is unlikely that the world will achieve any of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. This is cause for concern as we strive towards a better world post-2030. A few days after the Bill Gates Notes forecast, the World Bank and Partners released the 2023 Tracking SDG7: The Energy Progress Report (see the executive summary of the report here and the full report here). As the report reveals, energy poverty (explained in detail in my earlier post here) is certainly one of the defining challenges of our era. Sadly, as indicated in the 2023 Tracking SDG 7 Report, the world will not be able to eliminate this form of poverty by 2030. Of particular concern is the fact that the world is not on track towards achieving universal access to clean cooking by 2030.

Indeed, as the 2023 Tracking SDG 7 Report reveals, the number of people depending on polluting fuels and inefficient cookstoves decreased from 2.9 billion in 2010 to 2.3 billion in 2021. This means that in 11 years, only an additional 6 million people have accessed cleaning cooking. At this rate, as the report states, nearly 2 billion people will still not have access to clean cooking by 2030. Even more alarming is that any progress made in providing access to clean cooking thus far may be well reversed. This is because, according to the report and as  HIVOS shared here, an increasing number of people may revert to using polluting fuels and inefficient cookstoves because of ever-soaring energy prices and the impact of COVID-19.

As the 2030 deadline looms, then, will we be able to meet the objective of leaving no one behind on access to clean cooking? Of course, we can! Just because we are off track does not mean we cannot get back on track! Although time is running out, we can achieve universal access to clean cooking by the set deadline. All we need to do so is to:

Strengthen our will to achieve universal access to clean cooking: To achieve any development goal, as discussed here, here and here, is a matter of will to take action. By its very nature, the ‘will to act’ is complex. Where access to clean cooking is concerned, it is not merely the willingness of the government to set and take ownership of a national goal and enact policies or frameworks that are favourable to its realisation but also for the private sector to demonstrate commitment and sincerity in championing access to clean cooking and for communities to accept clean cooking technologies and stop using polluting fuels and inefficient cookstoves. The fact that nearly 2 billion people in the world will not have universal access to clean cooking by 2030 –  or that only 5% and 9%, respectively, of the total population of Benin and Lao People’s Democratic Republic, for example, had access to clean cooking in 2021 –  reveals the need to strengthen our will to deliver. If we are committed and determined to ensure clean cooking for everyone, nothing should stop us! Hasn’t the world committed to sending people to the moon and succeeded, despite the astronomical costs (USD 20 to 30 billion)? Why, then, should anyone be left behind in accessing clean cooking, which only requires USD 4.4 billion?  

Boost cross-sectoral collaboration: We agree 100 % with the point made in the 2023 Tracking SDG 7 Report about the urgent need to improve collaboration across all sectors: social, health, energy, environment, energy, education, financial, etc. At present, clean cooking is mostly the preserve of the energy, environmental, health and financial sectors, but collaboration among these sectors is somewhat weak. Clean cooking, as I blogged earlier here, has enormous potential to help eradicate multiple forms of poverty or enhance the quality of life of people, which is multidimensional, as we argued in a scholarly paper here. This reflects how important clean cooking is, as each dimension of poverty or quality of life is a ‘proxy’ of a particular sector. Enhancing cross-sectoral collaboration is therefore key to attaining universal access to clean cooking as it improves the efficiency and effectiveness of clean cooking approaches, both of which are crucial for the scalability, replicability and sustainability of clean cooking interventions.

Improve access to clean cooking in urban and peri-urban areas: Lack of access to clean cooking is more pronounced in rural than urban areas. However, there has not been a significant rise in the percentage of people with access to clean cooking in urban areas. As the 2023 Tracking SDG 7 Report reveals, it only rose by 4 % between 2010 and 2021 worldwide. As a result of an increase in energy prices and the impact of COVID-19 on household income, more and more people are using polluting fuels such as wood and coal. The situation is worsening in peri-urban areas, as we observed in our study published here. Current clean cooking efforts largely focus on rural areas. In Zimbabwe, for example, no significant strides have been made in reaching out to urban people without access to clean cooking. Moreover, some of the current clean cooking methods within the country do not seem suitable for urban and peri-urban areas, where some of the inhabitants are mobile and constrained in terms of cooking spaces. Improving our clean cooking efforts in urban and peri-urban areas would therefore ensure that the inhabitants of these areas are not left behind. 

Focus more on Sub-Saharan Africa: This region’s progress in achieving universal access to clean cooking is moving at a snail’s pace. For example, Malawi only had 2 %, The Gambia 2 %, Niger 3%, Mozambique 5%,  Chad  8%, Zambia 10%, Nigeria 17% and my home country, Zimbabwe, had 30%  of the total population with access to clean cooking in 2021. As the 2023 Tracking SDG 7 Report reveals, the number of people without access to clean cooking in Sub-Saharan Africa is rising by virtually 20 million per year, and by 2030, 6 in 10 people within the region will be using polluting fuels and inefficient stoves. By implication, then, more attention is needed to address the deficit in terms of access to clean cooking in Sub-Sarah Africa to make the goal of universal access to energy a reality.

Learn lessons from countries that have already achieved the goal of 100% access to clean cooking: As I argued in an article here, countries that made significant strides in attaining development goals or improving the quality of life of their people are potential sources of invaluable lessons, some of which are policy-related, that countries struggling to do so could learn from. A good number of countries, some developed and others less developed, have already achieved universal access to clean cooking. Such countries include Australia, Belgium, Singapore, Algeria, Argentina, Uruguay, Slovenia, and Chile. These countries bolster our belief that achieving 100% access to clean cooking by 2030 is indeed a possibility. We must learn ‘what works’, ‘what does not’ and ‘why’ from these countries that have done it! These lessons would be invaluable to our efforts in bringing clean cooking to the billions without it around the world.

Speed things up: We could not agree more with the thoughts of the President of Zambia, Mr. Hakainde Hichilema, in relation to poverty eradication, climate change and energy transition (shared here) that we need to improve the “speed at which we do things.” We still have a window for universal access to clean cooking by 2030, but to make the best of it, we need to expedite our clean cooking efforts.

True, we are not on track, but it is very much possible to get back on track. Considering the thoughts shared in this blog post, there is still hope for universal access to clean cooking by 2030.