Boost access to clean fuels in informal areas

With growing evidence suggesting that exposure to air pollution significantly increases the risk of being infected by Covid-19, access to clean cooking is more critical than ever.

Emerging trends show that households are regressing by switching from clean fuel — liquid petroleum gas (LPG) and electricity — to dirty fuels, such as kerosene, firewood and charcoal, as affordability and accessibility are increasingly challenging. The effects are worse among low-income households. 

These are alarming trends for Kenya, where access to clean cooking has been a challenge long before the pandemic. The Kenya Household Cooking Sector Study 2019 found that 64.7 per cent (about 8.1 million) of households still used firewood, followed by LPG at 19 per cent, charcoal at 10 per cent and electricity at three per cent.

Rural Kenya is worse off with 93 per cent of households using wood fuel. This has a huge impact, as the disease burden attributable to indoor air pollution stands at 49 per cent (21,560 deaths) of mostly women and children annually.

Additionally, the excessive use of charcoal and firewood has resulted in increased deforestation.

The Covid-19 containment strategies have had a significant impact on household incomes, in particular hitting those in the informal sector hardest. 

Declining incomes mean that for many, paying for clean cooking solutions is no longer possible. While the price of LPG has not varied much, the ability to buy kerosene or charcoal in smaller amounts has made it more affordable for income-vulnerable households. Firewood use also increased as this is usually a non-monetised fuel. 

Fuel stacking

The dynamics of cooking fuel choices are complex in urban households. In particular, the practice of fuel stacking — which is the use of multiple fuels and stoves in a household — is common.

During the lockdown, increased household sizes due to people staying home increased energy needs. Such pressures mounted even faster on low-income households, whose incomes would have been disrupted during the pandemic.

This increase, especially in informal settlements, where the use of dirty cooking fuels is dominant, also increased the exposure (mainly of women and children) to indoor air pollution.

Access to clean cooking is a multidimensional challenge, and while affordability remains an issue, addressing this problem is also dependent on simultaneously addressing other socio-economic factors, such as gender and vulnerability.