One part of energy poverty is not having access to clean, modern fuels and tools for cooking. As of 2020, more than 2.6 billion people in developing countries often cook using fuels like wood, animal waste, coal, or kerosene. Burning these fuels in open fires or traditional stoves creates harmful air pollution inside homes. This pollution causes about 3.8 million deaths each year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), and leads to many health, economic, and environmental issues.

Making clean cooking available to more people is part of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7. The World Health Organization (WHO) says clean cooking includes using stoves and appliances powered by electricity, liquid petroleum gas (LPG), piped natural gas (PNG), biogas, alcohol, or solar heat that meet WHO standards for clean cooking.

Stoves that burn wood and other solid fuels more efficiently than traditional stoves are called "improved cookstoves" or "clean cookstoves." Except in a few cases, these stoves provide fewer health benefits than those using liquid or gaseous fuels. However, they use less fuel, which helps reduce harm to the environment. Improved cookstoves are an important temporary solution in areas where cleaner technologies are harder to use.

Efforts to promote cleaner cooking have had only small success. Because of practical, cultural, and economic reasons, many families who use clean stoves and fuels often continue to rely on traditional fuels and stoves.

Issues with traditional cooking fuels

In 2023, over 2.3 billion people in developing countries use polluting fuels like wood, dry dung, coal, or kerosene for cooking. This practice causes harmful indoor and outdoor air pollution. The World Health Organization (WHO) says cooking-related pollution causes about 3.8 million deaths each year. A study from the Global Burden of Disease estimated 3.1 million deaths in 2021, with the highest death rates in Africa. Indoor air pollution from cooking is linked to many health problems. Exposure to harmful particles and gases from burning fuel increases the risk of stroke, pneumonia, and long-term lung diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It also affects pregnancies, leading to low birth weight in babies.

In traditional cooking setups, smoke is often released inside homes instead of being vented outside. Smoke from solid fuels contains thousands of harmful substances, including carbon monoxide, tiny particles, nitrous oxide, sulfur oxides, and dangerous chemicals like formaldehyde, benzene, and polycyclic aromatic compounds such as benzo-a-pyrene. These substances can harm health in both the short and long term.

Exposure to household air pollution nearly doubles the risk of childhood pneumonia and causes 45% of all pneumonia deaths in children under five. It also increases the risk of cataracts, a major cause of blindness in lower-middle-income countries, and low birth weight. Cooking with open fires or unsafe stoves is a leading cause of burns among women and children in developing countries.

Health risks from air pollution are most common among women, who often cook and care for children. Collecting fuel for cooking takes about 15 hours per week, limiting time for education, rest, and work. Women and girls may walk long distances to gather fuel, increasing their risk of physical and sexual violence. Many children, especially girls, miss school to help with fuel collection and cooking.

Traditional cooking methods are inefficient, allowing heat to escape into the air. This inefficiency requires more wood to be burned and increases emissions of black carbon, which contributes to climate change. Overharvesting wood and other fuels can cause serious environmental harm, such as desertification.

While burning biomass in sensitive areas is a problem, most clearing of biomass is due to farming and land use changes. Using crop waste and animal manure for cooking harms soil quality and reduces agricultural and livestock productivity because these materials are no longer available as soil nutrients, fertilizer, or animal feed.

Terminology

The term "clean cookstove" is often used without a clear explanation of its meaning. Different organizations have different definitions of "clean":

• The World Health Organization (WHO) considers cooking facilities "clean" if they release low amounts of carbon monoxide and tiny particles into the air.
• The Clean Cooking Alliance uses a broader definition. It includes what the WHO calls "improved cookstoves," which are stoves that burn biomass fuel more efficiently than traditional stoves. In 2020, most stoves that burn biomass fuel did not meet WHO standards for being "clean," even if they were more efficient than older models.

The WHO has warned against labeling biomass cookstoves as "improved" if they have not been tested against established standards and if their health benefits are not clearly proven.

WHO-recommended clean cooking facilities

A major goal in global efforts to promote sustainability is to ensure that clean cooking tools are available and affordable for everyone.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cooking devices powered by electricity, liquid petroleum gas (LPG), piped natural gas (PNG), biogas, alcohol, or solar heat are considered "clean." Special stoves that burn biomass pellets can also be classified as clean cooking tools if they are used correctly and the pellets have very low moisture levels. However, these stoves are not widely available.

Electricity can power devices like electric pressure cookers, rice cookers, and highly efficient induction stoves, in addition to standard electric stoves. Electric induction stoves are very efficient and produce less pollution than liquid petroleum gas (LPG), even when using electricity generated from coal. For cooking foods like stews, beans, and rice in electric pressure cookers, the benefits are even greater. As of 2019, 770 million people lack access to electricity, and for many others, electricity is not affordable or reliable. Since access to electricity is also a key goal in global development, plans to build new or improved electricity systems that include cooking needs are becoming more common. This approach may help solve both electricity access and clean cooking challenges more quickly and at lower cost.

Natural gas stoves, which are common in wealthier countries, still pose health risks. They release high levels of nitrogen dioxide, a pollutant linked to reduced lung function and oxidative stress. Studies on the effects of cooking with natural gas indoors have shown mixed results. A review of studies from 2010 suggests that using natural gas for cooking may slightly reduce lung function in children. Children with allergies may be more affected.

Biogas digesters change waste, such as human waste and animal manure, into a clean-burning gas rich in methane. These systems may work well in areas where households have at least two large animals to provide manure and have a steady water supply.

Solar cookers use sunlight to collect and focus heat when the sun is shining.

Improved cook stoves

Improved cook stoves (ICS), also called "clean cookstoves," are stoves that burn materials like wood or charcoal more efficiently than traditional stoves or open fires. These stoves use less fuel and aim to reduce harmful effects from smoke exposure. They can use 20-75% less fuel and lower dangerous smoke and fumes. As of 2016, no widely available biomass stoves met the World Health Organization (WHO) standards for clean cooking. A 2020 study found only one biomass stove on the market met WHO standards when tested in real-world conditions.

Even with these limits, ICS are a useful temporary solution in areas where electricity, gas, or alcohol stoves are not practical. In 2009, less than 30% of people using biomass stoves had access to ICS. These stoves use fuel more efficiently, reducing the time needed to gather wood and helping to lower deforestation and air pollution. However, some closed stove designs may create more soot and tiny particles than open fires. Certain models also reduce the risk of burns caused by children near open flames.

Although ICS are more efficient, this does not always mean they reduce health risks significantly. For example, for conditions like childhood pneumonia, the link between pollution levels and health effects is not directly proportional. This means a 50% reduction in pollution may not cut health risks by half. A 2020 study found that using ICS led to small improvements in blood pressure, breathing difficulties, cancer-causing emissions, and heart disease, but no changes in pregnancy outcomes or children's health.

Tests of cookstoves show large differences in emissions and fuel use across stove designs and between lab and real-world testing. There is no standard method to test stoves or describe pollution exposure accurately. Studies on stoves often vary based on the scientists' backgrounds and areas of expertise.

The World Health Organization supports more research to create biomass stoves that produce less pollution, are affordable, long-lasting, and meet users' needs.

Non-technological interventions

Behavioral change methods can lower household air pollution exposure by 20–98%. Indoor Air Pollution (IAP) can be reduced by cooking outside, spending less time near the cooking area, keeping the kitchen door open while cooking, avoiding leaning over the fire during meal preparation, not carrying children while cooking, and keeping children away from the cooking area. Environmental changes, such as using a chimney, drying fuel wood before burning, and covering pots while cooking, can also lower harmful effects.

Ways to teach communities about reducing IAP include working with festivals, religious gatherings, and health clinics that visit communities. People who work in communities to teach about health are an important resource for helping others learn how to reduce the effects of indoor air pollution.

Challenges

Many people who use clean stoves and fuels also often use traditional fuels and stoves. This is called "fuel stacking" or "stove stacking." For example, a recent study in Kenya showed that families who mainly use LPG (a clean fuel) use 42% as much charcoal as families who mainly use charcoal (a traditional fuel).

When fuel stacking happens, adding clean cooking tools may not lower household air pollution enough to improve health. People may continue using traditional fuels and stoves for several reasons, such as unreliable fuel supplies, high fuel costs, the need for stoves to work with different pots and cooking methods, and the long distances required to fix broken stoves.

Efforts to provide clean cooking fuels and stoves have not kept up with population growth. Even with current and planned policies, 2.4 billion people are still expected to lack access to clean cooking solutions by 2030.

2023 Reports on Clean Cooking Access

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) published a report in 2023 showing slow progress in providing clean cooking access to all people. In 2021, over 2.3 billion people did not have access to clean cooking, and by 2030, about 1.9 billion may still lack it. The report highlights the need for more funding and better policies to support clean cooking technologies, such as biogas and bioethanol. These technologies are important for health, the environment, and climate goals but are often ignored in favor of fossil fuels like LPG. The report shares lessons from Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, urging a new approach to meet rising demand and align with global goals. It stresses the importance of expanding clean cooking solutions through focused efforts.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) released a 2023 report stating that achieving universal clean cooking access by 2030 is very important for health, fairness, and environmental protection. The IEA estimates that $8 billion must be invested each year to close funding gaps and increase the use of cleaner cooking methods, such as electric stoves and improved cookstoves, especially in regions like sub-Saharan Africa. The report suggests that this investment could prevent 2.5 million early deaths, create 1.5 million jobs, and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The IEA states that access to clean cooking is a basic human right and that meeting this goal is necessary for creating a more sustainable and fair future.

Environmental and sustainable development effects

Changing to cleaner cooking methods might slightly increase or decrease greenhouse gas emissions, even if the new fuels are fossil fuels. Evidence shows that switching to LPG and PNG causes fewer climate effects than burning solid fuels, which release methane and black carbon. Burning solid fuels in homes contributes up to 58% of global black carbon emissions. Moving to clean cooking solutions reduces methane and other greenhouse gas emissions from basic stoves by 0.9 gigatonnes of CO2-equivalent and helps reduce deforestation, saving 0.7 gigatonnes by 2030. In 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported that achieving nearly universal access to electricity and clean fuels for cooking and heating would cost between 72 and 95 billion USD each year until 2030, with little impact on greenhouse gas emissions.

Universal access to clean cooking is part of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 7, which aims to ensure affordable, reliable, and modern energy services for all by 2030. Progress in clean cooking supports other goals, including ending poverty (Goal 1), improving health (Goal 3), advancing gender equality (Goal 5), and taking climate action (Goal 13). A key measure for Goal 7 is the percentage of the population relying on clean fuels and technologies for cooking, heating, and lighting, as defined by the World Health Organization.

In 2025, Reuters reported that the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market approved three clean cookstove methods under its Core Carbon Principles benchmark.