India's Clean Cooking Shift: Scaling non-fossil fuel solutions | Policy brief

This policy brief by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) advocates for a transition in India from fossil-fuel-based clean cooking, specifically liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), toward non-fossil alternatives. The authors propose a twin strategy: scaling biogas for rural areas and electric cooking (e-cooking) for urban and peri-urban households to reduce fiscal burdens, import dependency, and environmental impacts.

• Biogas is more economical than LPG over its operational lifetime for most rural Indian households, provided there is local maintenance support. From a government perspective, biogas requires a one-time subsidy per household, whereas LPG subsidies are a recurring expenditure.
• The adoption of biogas leads to a significant decrease in the use of traditional fuels; users reported that their firewood consumption dropped by 70% after switching to biogas.
• Prefabricated biogas models are superior to civil construction-based models because they are more compact, require less maintenance, and can be installed in one to two days. They are also more effective in alpine climates, as they are less prone to leakage from heavy rains and efficiency drops during winter.
• E-cooking is currently cheaper than LPG or piped natural gas (PNG) in terms of operational costs for most urban households. A strong policy push for urban e-cooking could reduce household LPG demand by half by 2050 and save the government over INR 2 trillion (USD 24 billion) in cumulative subsidies.
• Several barriers hinder the scale-up of e-cooking, including high upfront costs for double-plated induction stoves, unreliable electricity supply in rural areas, and a lack of repair services. In Bengaluru, two-thirds of households reported throwing away broken devices because they could not find repair options.
• To facilitate the transition, the authors suggest reallocating a portion of existing LPG subsidies toward biogas for rural areas and targeted electricity subsidies for urban e-cooking.

APA

International Institute for Sustainable Development (n.d.). India's Clean Cooking Shift: Scaling non-fossil fuel solutions | Policy brief. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2026-02/india-clean-cooking-summary.pdf

Chicago

International Institute for Sustainable Development. India's Clean Cooking Shift: Scaling non-fossil fuel solutions | Policy brief. n.d. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2026-02/india-clean-cooking-summary.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=International Institute for Sustainable Development |title=India's Clean Cooking Shift: Scaling non-fossil fuel solutions | Policy brief |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2026-02/india-clean-cooking-summary.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{internationalinstituteforsustainabledevelopmentndindias, author = {{International Institute for Sustainable Development}}, title = {{India's Clean Cooking Shift: Scaling non-fossil fuel solutions | Policy brief}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2026-02/india-clean-cooking-summary.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }