Christine Kagimu, a mother of six from a small town outside the Ugandan capital, Kampala, presses a button on her electric-powered induction cooker and quickly brings a pot of water to the boil.
Two solar panels on Kagimu’s roof power the device, a welcome upgrade from the pricey, soot-spewing charcoal stove she once used for the majority of her cooking. “Charcoal gets very expensive; a bag costs around US$50,” she says. “The sun is free for everyone… and it’s always going to be there, so reliability is guaranteed.”
Kagimu is one of a growing number of Ugandans who in recent months have switched to electric cooking technologies. The ambitious nation-wide push, supported in part by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), is designed to stem air pollution deaths, slow deforestation and help Uganda curb its emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases.
“It’s often overlooked but the way we cook food has huge implications not only for our health but the health of the planet,” says John Christensen, Director of the UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre. “If we can help people, especially those in the developing world, move away from polluting fuels, the benefits would be tremendous.”
For many, accessing hot water or cooking a meal at the flick of a switch is taken for granted. Yet more than 2 billion people still rely on burning solid fuels, such as charcoal or kerosene, for cooking. This has catastrophic health impacts, with household air pollution responsible for an estimated 3.2 million deaths per year in 2020, including more than 237,000 fatalities of children under the age of five.
The burning of non-renewable cooking fuels, like charcoal and gas, is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. What’s more, the global demand for firewood is partly responsible for the loss of 10 million hectares of forest every year—an area the size of the Republic of Korea.
So called “clean-cooking” fuels and stoves, like solar-powered appliances, are set to be highlighted on International Day of Clean Energy, on 26 January.
A recent study, published by the UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre and others shows that solar-powered cooking can save 2-4 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per stove, per year, which at the higher end is about what one car produces annually.
Those potential gains have led to calls for countries to transition away from non-renewable fuels by including firm targets for clean-cooking in their climate commitments under the Paris Agreement. Known as nationally determined contributions, these revised targets and investment strategies are due later this year.
With technical support from the UNEP-led NDC Action project, Uganda included targets for solar-powered electric cooking in its national climate strategy and has prioritized investments in the technology. The government aims to have 50 per cent of Ugandans cooking with electricity by 2040.
Uganda is home to more than 1.7 million refugees and asylum seekers, most coming from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan. Efforts are now underway to help those communities make the switch to clean cooking.
The Africa-wide Solar Electric Cooking Partnership for Humanitarian Contexts, backed by UNEP, aims to create affordable access to solar electric cooking technologies for 250,000 refugees and host community households by 2030, including 150,000 in Uganda. Also known as SOLCO, the partnership is part of the Global Electric Cooking Coalition, launched at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2023.
“It’s important that we innovate, so rural communities can afford these, so instead of paying upfront, they can pay for it on a monthly basis,” says Justine Akumu, Senior Energy Officer, at Uganda’s Ministry of Energy.
Kagimu, the mother of six who lives near Kampala, bought her electric cooking system after saving for four months. She paid half of the system cost (US$300) up front and got the rest on credit at a zero per cent interest rate with flexible repayments provided by the supplier. She estimates that she will cover the cost of the e-cooker in less than two years, providing significant long-term savings. She’s also relishing the fact she no longer has to spend the day stoking a charcoal stove.
“With the e-cooker, I just have to press a button,” she says.
The International Day of Clean Energy takes place on 26 January, and is an annual call to raise awareness and mobilize action for a just and inclusive transition to clean energy for the benefit of people and the planet.
UNEP is at the forefront of supporting the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global temperature rise well below 2°C and aiming for 1.5°C, compared to pre-industrial levels. To do this, UNEP has developed the Sectoral Solution, a roadmap to reducing emissions across sectors in line with the Paris Agreement commitments and in pursuit of climate stability. The six sectors identified are: energy; industry; agriculture and food; forests and land use; transport; and buildings and cities.
