The Kenyan Cooking Sector: Opportunities for Climate Action and Sustainable Development

The study analyzes five development scenarios for Kenya's residential cooking sector to quantify GHG emissions, health impacts, and fuel demand. It finds that shifting from 'modern cooking' (LPG and improved biomass stoves) to 'clean cooking' (electric, biogas, and bioethanol) can significantly reduce emissions, with the most ambitious scenario achieving net-zero by mid-century. Implementation of the net-zero scenario could avoid nearly 500,000 premature deaths over 30 years. However, the transition is hindered by high upfront costs, cultural practices like fuel stacking, and the absence of a comprehensive, sector-wide strategy.

• Residential cooking in Kenya generated an estimated 24.8 MtCO2e of GHG emissions annually in 2019. While the 2018-2022 NCCAP identifies a mitigation potential of 7.1 MtCO2e through alternative fuels and efficient stoves, the study argues that greater reductions are possible by prioritizing clean cooking solutions—electric, biogas, and bioethanol—over modern cooking options like LPG and improved biomass stoves.
• The study's scenario modelling indicates that a phase-out of solid biomass in favor of electricity, biogas, and bioethanol (the NZ-S scenario) could bring residential cooking emissions to net-zero by mid-century. A less ambitious scenario (GF-S), which increases access to LPG alongside electricity, biogas, and bioethanol, could reduce emissions by nearly half by mid-century.
• Transitioning to cleaner cooking technologies offers substantial health benefits by reducing household air pollutants. The NZ-S scenario could prevent nearly 500,000 premature deaths over 30 years, while the IP-S and GF-S scenarios could save between 250,000 and 300,000 lives, and the NDCU-S scenario approximately 145,000 lives.
• The transition to clean cooking in Kenya faces three primary barriers: economic/financial challenges including high upfront technology and fuel costs and poor infrastructure; cultural factors such as fuel stacking; and political gaps, specifically the lack of a single, comprehensive, sector-wide strategy.
• Rural areas in Kenya are at risk of being excluded from the energy transition due to ultra-low access rates.

APA

NewClimate Institute (2021). The Kenyan Cooking Sector: Opportunities for Climate Action and Sustainable Development. http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/the-kenyan-cooking-sector-opportunities-for-climate-action-and-sustainable

Chicago

NewClimate Institute. The Kenyan Cooking Sector: Opportunities for Climate Action and Sustainable Development. 2021. http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/the-kenyan-cooking-sector-opportunities-for-climate-action-and-sustainable.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=NewClimate Institute |title=The Kenyan Cooking Sector: Opportunities for Climate Action and Sustainable Development |date=13 July 2021 |url=http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/the-kenyan-cooking-sector-opportunities-for-climate-action-and-sustainable |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{newclimateinstitute2021kenyan, author = {{NewClimate Institute}}, title = {{The Kenyan Cooking Sector: Opportunities for Climate Action and Sustainable Development}}, institution = {NewClimate Institute}, year = {2021}, month = jul, url = {http://www.newclimate.org/resources/publications/the-kenyan-cooking-sector-opportunities-for-climate-action-and-sustainable}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }