The Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Maroš Šefčovič, announced that Team Europe would be contributing €400 million to support the practice of ‘clean cooking’ in Africa while attending the International Energy Agency (IEA) Summit dedicated to this topic on Tuesday 14 May in Paris.
2.3 billion people, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, still rely heavily on firewood, charcoal or agricultural residues for cooking, which has repercussions for their health, the environment and gender equality.
The IEA estimates that an annual investment of $4 billion would give everyone in Africa access to clean cooking by 2030.
“So together we can fix an issue affecting billions of people, in just 6 years, with an amount of funding well within our reach”, said Šefčovič.
The funding, which is part of the Africa-EU Green Energy Initiative, includes €150 million exclusively from European funds.
In total, the IEA Summit mobilised $2.2 billion in financial pledges from governments and the private sector. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)