The Value of Clean Cooking

Switching to clean cooking – using modern stoves and fuels – transforms lives by improving health, protecting the climate and the environment, empowering women, and helping consumers save time and money.

See our Clean Cooking Catalog

Why we need clean cooking

Cooking without clean stoves and fuels releases toxic pollutants into the environment and endangers the health and well-being of billions across the globe.

Three stone, wood burning, cook stove producing pollutants into the air

Health

Open fires and inefficient stoves create household pollutants which put the families living in the home at risk for several serious diseases and even death.

Woman inside cooking on polluting fire stove on the left and same woman being examined in a doctor's office on the right

Environment

The use of open fires and inefficient stoves in cooking emits black carbon and other pollutants, and contributes to climate change, sea ice melt, and deforestation.

Scene of a woman cooking on three stone, open fire, a group of trees and pile of chopped wood, and a city scape with pollution in the air coming from the three stone fire

Gender

Women, in particular, are exposed to the unhealthy pollutants released by cooking with biomass fuels (ex: wood, charcoal) and outdated stoves. The time dedicated to cooking and collecting fuel also interferes with their ability to attend school and generate income.

Woman and young girl collecting wood fuel on the left and the same woman and young girl cooking over polluting fire on the right

Humanitarian

People in need of humanitarian assistance living in aid camps most often cook using biomass fuels, exposing them to harmful, unhealthy pollutants and putting them at risk for additional harm.

Woman cooking on polluting open fire in aid camp

Open fires and inefficient stoves are harmful

Smoke associated with cooking is dangerous

4 million people die every year from illnesses associated with smoke from cooking.

Open fires and outdated stoves cause pollution

1 gigaton of carbon dioxide equivalent is produced every year from burning woodfuels, equating to about 2% of global CO2 emissions.

Women and children are severely affected

Women and children in developing countries spend up to 20 hours a week gathering fuel for cooking.

Clean cooking saves lives

Clean cooking is better for mothers and infants

Clean cooking can lower blood pressure in pregnant women and increase babies’ birth weight.

Efficient stoves are better for the environment

Today’s highly efficient stoves can reduce fuel use by 30-60%, lowering climate-harming emissions.

Cooking with clean fuel is better for children

Clean cooking can reduce the severity and duration of respiratory diseases in children.

Clean cooking is a cross-cutting solution

Clean cooking has a dedicated indicator under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7, which calls for “access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.” More broadly, clean cooking directly contributes to reaching 10 out of the 17 SDGs.

How CCA is Delivering on the SDGs

No Poverty

Clean cooking is necessary to leading healthy and productive lives, and it also helps consumers save time and money.

Zero Hunger

Clean cooking reduces fuel needs, thus reducing the burden on families to collect, buy, or trade other resources, such as food, for fuel.

Good Health & Well Being

Clean cooking improves health by lowering the burden of disease from exposure to household air pollution.

Quality Education

Clean cooking can help children, especially girls, stay in school by reducing time spent on cooking and collecting fuel for the household.

Gender Equality

Clean cooking can reduce the burden of unpaid care work, which remains a major cause of gender inequality.

Affordable and Clean Energy

Clean cooking is essential to addressing energy poverty and ensuring sustainable energy security for billions of people.

Decent Work & Economic Growth

Energy access enables enhanced productivity and inclusive economic growth. A global clean cooking sector can boost job creation.

Sustainable Cities & Communities

Clean cooking addresses household and ambient air polution, resource efficiency, and climate vulnerability.

Climate Action

Clean cooking reduces harmful, climate-damaging emissions from burning polluting fuels in inefficient stoves.

Life on Land

Clean cooking reduces the amount of wood required for cooking, thereby reducing environmental degradation and pressure on forest resources.