Africa Climate Summit & Week: Momentum for Clean Cooking
At this year’s Africa Climate Summit & Week, EnDev could showcase its contributions to combating climate change. Together with its partners, EnDev introduced the Global eCooking Coalition and its Global eCooking Accelerator. Towards the end of the week, EnDev and one of its associated projects engaged in discussions on clean cooking and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
“After advocating for clean cooking for so many years, it has finally become mainstream.”
— Kandeh Yumkella, former United Nations Under-Secretary-General
#1 EnDev is proud to be a founding partner of the Global eCooking Coalition. In the action hub session, “Watt’s Cooking? Introducing the Global eCooking Coalition (GeCCo)”, Kandeh Yumkella, former United Nations Under-Secretary-General, congratulated the co-founders EnDev, MECS, GEAPP and SEforALL. Clean cooking has always been close to his heart, he said, and this new coalition uses a crucial momentum and opportunity to raise access to electric cooking. Joseph Nganga, Vice President for Africa at GEAPP and CEO of the Africa Climate Summit (ACS), emphasized that the ACS has high expectations for GeCCo to provide support for the African continent in its pursuit of clean cooking.
Following these encouraging speeches, the founding partners presented their contributions to GeCCo. Alexander Haack, Programme Director of EnDev, announced the Global eCooking Accelerator. EnDev has committed EUR 10 million to reach 1 million people in the next two years (read more on the Global eCooking Accelerator).
The energy sector in Kenya and Uganda is ready, according to the respective ministries. “Uganda produces a surplus of electricity; we look at eCooking as an opportunity”, said Dr. Brian Isabirye (Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, Uganda). Paul Mbuthi of Kenya’s Ministry of Energy and Petroleum shared that Kenya’s President, William Ruto, acknowledges the importance of clean cooking and sees GeCCo as an asset. To make the Kenyan commitment more tangible, Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) made a calculation and was convinced that cooking with electricity will increase the economic viability of power generation and distribution. To reinforce their commitment, KPLC issued a press release setting a target to increase the uptake of electric cooking from 90,000 to over 500,000 users within three years.
#2 Representatives from the Ministries of Energy in Kenya, Senegal, and Uganda, along with EnDev, participated in an open dialogue during the side event “Clean Cooking Contribution to NDC Obligations”, organised by the Ministry of Energy Kenya in collaboration with EnDev’s associated project, the Promotion of Climate-Friendly Cooking: Kenya and Senegal project. The discussion centered around clean cooking and how it aligns with each country’s NDC targets, as well as related policies in the different countries.
Justine Akumu, Energy Officer at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, Uganda, highlighted the continuing relevance of biomass for cooking. Alexander Haack, Programme Director of EnDev and of its mentioned associated project, emphasized the significant potential for scaling up Improved Cookstoves (ICS) and other technologies. Dr. Faith Odongo, Deputy Director of Renewable Energy at the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum in Kenya, and Pape Samba Ba, Director of Hydrocarbons at the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy in Senegal, both stressed the need for immediate action.
