Cooking on open fire
Cooking on open fire
More than 2 billion people still cook on open fires
More than a quarter of the world’s population currently cooks on a wood fire. This is an open fire made of wood or charcoal, often used for cooking indoors. This brings with it several problems, such as the release of harmful substances through smoke and the impact on the climate. Furthermore, cooking indoors on an open fire is dangerous; just think of children playing indoors. A relatively easy solution to this problem is clean cooking solutions, a solution that FairClimateFund and its partners are investing in.
The problem: cooking on a wood fire
Danger to health
Up to 4 million people die each year from illnesses related to cooking smoke.
Impact on climate
The harmful substances released by cooking on an open fire or using inefficient stoves are equal to 3% of global CO2 emissions.
Responsibility lies with women
Women and children spend up to 20 hours a week on household chores such as collecting wood and cooking.
Health
Globally, 2.6 billion people rely on food prepared over open fires or with inefficient cookstoves, exposing them to air pollution. These open fires are often built indoors, creating smoke in the home. Exposure to this household air pollution (HAP) from burning wood, charcoal, coal, and kerosene is a significant risk factor for serious diseases such as childhood pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), ischemic heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer.
When pregnant women are exposed to this air pollution, their babies are at increased risk of stillbirth, low birth weight, and reduced lung function. Up to four million people worldwide die prematurely each year from diseases attributable to household air pollution.
Climate
Cooking over a wood fire not only emits greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO₂), but also short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs). The most harmful SLCP released by traditional cooking methods is black carbon, a component of particulate matter. Because black carbon has a lifespan of only a few days in the atmosphere, reducing these emissions can have a positive impact on the climate faster than simply reducing greenhouse gases.
In addition, trees are being cut down to provide wood for cooking fires. This logging for fuel leads to deforestation and environmental degradation. The felling of these trees causes erosion. The trees’ roots are no longer there to protect the soil from rain and wind. This can cause the fertile soil to wash away or blow away, making the area susceptible to flooding.
Women disproportionately burdened
Lack of access to clean cooking solutions has significant consequences for women and girls. Cooking not only poses health risks due to inhaling toxic fumes, but girls can also be pulled out of school to perform household tasks like collecting firewood. Due to forest degradation, they have to travel increasingly long distances, often carrying heavy loads.
In conflict zones, women also face additional risks, such as physical attacks, when they leave their community or refugee camp in search of wood. This is also the case in Chad, where FairClimateFund is active in two of these camps. Read more about the solar cookers for refugees in Chad here.
With clean cooking solutions, women can reduce or even completely avoid their exposure to harmful smoke indoors. This also shortens cooking time and reduces or eliminates the number of times they need to gather firewood. This gives women the opportunity to spend the time they gain on generating income or investing in education. This aims to achieve an equal position for men and women in society, in other words SDG 5.
Clean cooking and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
As the world implements the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and addresses climate change, it is crucial that we invest in proven and scalable solutions like clean cooking technologies. These solutions have broad economic benefits. Clean cooking methods directly contribute to 10 of the SDGs, including Goal 13, which focuses on climate. They will play a key role in implementing the Paris Agreement. To date, 98 low- and middle-income countries have included clean cooking solutions or related targets in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Be part of the solution
Clean cooking solutions are urgently needed to achieve climate and development goals worldwide. Despite these serious consequences, there is still too little money and attention for this problem. To solve this, more support is needed from governments and investors.
