Member Corner
As of 2023, 2.3 billion people remain without access to clean cooking solutions, with Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) experiencing the most acute and worsening deficit. While progress has been made in parts of Asia, SSA's reliance on traditional biomass such as wood, charcoal, and dung continues to rise, representing nearly 50% of global biomass use and posing serious threats to health, the environment, and gender equity. Without a significant policy shift, over 2 billion people will remain without access by 2030, with SSA accounting for the majority of this gap well into 2050. The continued dependence on traditional biomass in SSA undermines progress on multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—notably SDG7 (clean energy), SDG5 (gender equality), SDG3 (health), and SDG15 (forest protection). Women and children disproportionately bear the burden of fuel collection and suffer most from household air pollution, which contributed to 2.3 million premature deaths globally in 2023. Furthermore, widespread deforestation linked to biomass use accelerates land degradation and biodiversity loss.