Climate-friendly cooking

Cooking without harming oneself or the climate – for Lerato Mataboge, this is about more than stoves and fuels. According to the African Union Commissioner: ‘It is about dignity, health, empowerment, and climate action.’ There are millions of stories that could be told, about modernisation, jobs, incomes and greenhouse gas reduction – 41 million, to be precise. This is the number of people that GIZ has supported in accessing modern cooking technology over the past two decades – with more than 4.5 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent saved in 2024. This roughly equates to the annual emissions of Munich. 

Decentralised solutions to supply energy in rural regions  

Providing climate-friendly energy in places with no central electricity supply is a global challenge. Worldwide, around 685 million people have no access to electricity. To provide people with an affordable, reliable and sustainable energy supply, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been pooling their strengths with the Energising Development (EnDev) programme since 2005 – in 11 countries to begin with, including Kenya.  

As Alex Wachira, Principal Secretary at Kenya’s State Department for Energy, stressed at this year’s Africa Climate Summit: ‘Kenya is proud to stand as a lighthouse example: from mini-grids in remote communities to solar home systems to innovative clean cooking solutions.’ To tackle the lack of grid access in rural areas, Kenya is focusing on decentralised solutions with renewable energies. GIZ has been supporting the East African country for 20 years now, facilitating access to electricity for nearly half a million people. GIZ has now transferred this approach to 32 countries in total. Wachira adds: ‘This project is a clear shift from pioneering efforts to market expansion and sector-wide transformation. It is building bridges between local projects and national strategies.’   

Value creation as the key to sustainable development  

A key to success is to establish local value creation so that development sustains itself in the long term. GIZ supports companies that produce innovative technologies and skilled workers that maintain them. The priority is to find and develop the right solution for a particular place and purpose. This might be a private solar installation for lighting so that a shop can stay open longer, or a village mini-grid to refrigerate food and vaccines.  

The greatest impact for the climate can be achieved through cooking with energy-efficient stoves. This was recognised by Kenya and Senegal – and the Green Climate Fund (GCF). Between 2020 and 2025, the GCF provided the two countries with international climate funding for a project modelled on EnDev. By 2030, this will save 30 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent.  

Cooking as way to invest in climate action 

On behalf of BMZ and GCF, GIZ supported the two countries by facilitating the professional production and sale of climate-friendly stoves and advising companies on business development. More than 8,000 jobs were created – in manufacturing, sales, installation and maintenance – as well as in the recycling industry. Some stoves are powered using briquettes made from agricultural waste, for example. Other stoves run on electricity, ethanol and biogas. They prevent deforestation, produce little smoke and are energy-efficient. As Madeleine Diouf Sarr, Director of Climate Change, Ecological Transition and Green Finance at the Senegalese Ministry of Environment and Ecological Transition (METE) emphasises: 'The main innovation and achievement in Senegal is that this project boosted value chains, generated income and created jobs! Therefore, Senegal has integrated clean cooking into the nationally determined contribution, NDC, and is ready to further scale the market in Senegal and the region.’ 

A quarter of the world’s population cooks on open fires with firewood and charcoal. In sub-Saharan Africa, this figure continues to grow. African Union Commissioner Mataboge concludes: ‘We need to understand clean cooking not as a cost, but as an investment opportunity. Africa has the solutions, and with stronger partnership and collaboration, we will deliver them for our people.’