Over 2 Billion People Rely on Polluting Fuels to Prepare Meals, Secretary-General Warns, Urging Universal Access to Clean Cooking by 2030, at Energy Agency Summit

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the International Energy Agency Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa, in Paris today: 

I thank the International Energy Agency and its Executive Director, Dr. Fatih Birol, for convening this important Summit.

Cooking fuels are fuelling crises:  Globally, over 2 billion people — most of them poor — are forced to rely on cooking methods that make them sick, hobble sustainable development, and add to climate chaos.  Without action, more than a billion people in sub-Saharan Africa alone will still not have access to clean cooking by 2030.

This is bad for women and girls — who are often responsible for collecting fuels and preparing meals.  It is bad for health — indoor pollution, including from fires and stoves, kills over 3 million people every year, with women and children most at risk. 

And it is bad for the climate.  Domestic fires add to the pollution causing the world to overheat, with devastating effects for the world’s poorest — who have done the least to cause the crisis.

Reversing these injustices must be a global priority.  We need urgent action to give everyone, everywhere access to clean cooking.

We have a recipe for success:  our Global Roadmap for Just and Inclusive Clean Cooking Transition.  This United Nations roadmap charts a path to universal access to clean cooking by 2030 and net-zero cooking by 2050.  I urge you all to put it into practice.  And to ensure finance is available for sustainable development and climate action — including clean cooking.

Developed countries must honour their climate finance commitments.  All countries must push for a strong finance outcome at the COP29 [Twenty-ninth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change] this year.  And I urge you to support the United Nations’ proposals for a Sustainable Development Goals Stimulus of $500 billion a year — including action on debt — to scale up affordable long-term financing for countries in need.

Together, let’s clean up cooking and create a healthier, safer, more equal world for us all.