Sparking Change: Ideas for Transforming the Clean Cooking Market in India

The document examines why the clean cooking market in India has failed to expand despite the widespread use of inefficient biomass-burning 'chulha' stoves by approximately 160 million households. It highlights that biomass burning contributes roughly half of the black carbon in the atmospheric brown cloud over South Asia, impacting health and climate. Key barriers identified include a lack of legitimacy for improved stoves, failure to design products based on user preferences, and poor access to finance and distribution for small-scale producers. The brief recommends shifting focus from consumer price subsidies toward supply-side support, improving user-centered design, and making clean cooking a cross-government priority.

• Biomass burning is a significant contributor to air pollution in South Asia, accounting for approximately 50% of the black carbon particles in the atmospheric brown cloud, which affects agriculture, human health, and the climate.
• The traditional 'chulha' stove is the primary cooking tool for about 160 million Indian households and remains prevalent even in major cities like New Delhi.
• There is potential demand for cleaner alternatives, as many chulha users are willing and able to pay for efficient stoves that align with their specific needs and preferences.
• The growth of the clean cooking market is hindered by several systemic obstacles: a lack of legitimacy for improved stoves among users and government agencies, designs that ignore user preferences, limited financial and distribution resources for producers, and widespread knowledge gaps.
• The Indian clean cooking sector is dominated by small-scale independent producers, while larger companies have mostly exited the market.
• Price is not necessarily the primary barrier to adoption; some evidence suggests that free or heavily subsidized stoves may be perceived as low-value, whereas higher prices could make products more aspirational.

APA

Lambe, F., Gustafsson, Ö., & Andersson, A. (2013). Sparking Change: Ideas for Transforming the Clean Cooking Market in India. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/sei-policybrief-2013-sparking-change.pdf

Chicago

Lambe, Fiona, Örjan Gustafsson, and August Andersson. Sparking Change: Ideas for Transforming the Clean Cooking Market in India. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2013. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/sei-policybrief-2013-sparking-change.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Lambe |first1=Fiona |last2=Gustafsson |first2=Örjan |last3=Andersson |first3=August |title=Sparking Change: Ideas for Transforming the Clean Cooking Market in India |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=2013 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/sei-policybrief-2013-sparking-change.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{lambe2013sparking, author = {Lambe, Fiona and Gustafsson, Örjan and Andersson, August}, title = {{Sparking Change: Ideas for Transforming the Clean Cooking Market in India}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2013}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/sei-policybrief-2013-sparking-change.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }