India's Clean Cooking Shift

The report advocates for a "twin-track" diversification of India's clean cooking energy to address the affordability, delivery, and price volatility issues associated with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and piped natural gas (PNG). It proposes scaling electric cooking (e-cooking) in urban and peri-urban areas and biogas in rural areas. The analysis suggests that e-cooking could halve LPG demand by 2050 and save over INR 2 trillion in subsidies, while rural biogas adoption depends on reducing high upfront costs and improving local maintenance ecosystems.

• While LPG and PNG have expanded clean cooking access, they are limited by affordability gaps for low-income households, uneven last-mile delivery, and fiscal pressures caused by import dependence and global price volatility.
• The report proposes a "twin-track" diversification strategy: scaling e-cooking in urban and peri-urban areas where electricity access is stronger, and scaling biogas in rural areas where feedstock is adequate and maintenance ecosystems can be sustained.
• For rural biogas, the primary barrier is high upfront cost; however, when households can afford the units and have reliable feedstock and upkeep, they experience cooking similar to LPG and a sustained decrease in firewood use.
• E-cooking is already more cost-effective to operate than LPG or PNG for most urban Indian households; with policy support, it could reduce LPG demand by half by 2050 and result in cumulative subsidy savings exceeding INR 2 trillion.

APA

Alsulaiman,, S. M. K. S. L. (2026). India's Clean Cooking Shift. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/india-clean-cooking

Chicago

Alsulaiman,, Sunil Mani,Gunjan Kohli,Shruti Sharma,Gaurav Limaye,Abdurahman. India's Clean Cooking Shift. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2026. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/india-clean-cooking.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Alsulaiman, |first1=Sunil Mani,Gunjan Kohli,Shruti Sharma,Gaurav Limaye,Abdurahman |title=India's Clean Cooking Shift |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=16 February 2026 |url=https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/india-clean-cooking |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{alsulaiman2026indias, author = {Alsulaiman,, Sunil Mani,Gunjan Kohli,Shruti Sharma,Gaurav Limaye,Abdurahman}, title = {{India's Clean Cooking Shift}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2026}, month = feb, url = {https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/india-clean-cooking}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }