COP31: Two-thirds of Africa’s US$2.2bn clean cooking pledges yet to be delivered

Two years after leaders pledged US$2.2 billion to expand clean cooking in Africa, only about US$740 million has been paid out, leaving roughly two-thirds of the money, about US$1.46 billion, still to be delivered. The figures were presented at a Leaders’ Roundtable on Clean Cooking in Africa at COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, on 12 November. The meeting was co-hosted by the COP31 Presidency of Türkiye, the United Republic of Tanzania, the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Clean Cooking Alliance. The pledges were made at the first Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa, held in Paris in 2024 and co-chaired by Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan. The IEA has been tracking the commitments since, and its Executive Director, Fatih Birol, told the roundtable that about a third of the money had been disbursed (about 34 cents of every dollar pledged). “Where did this money go? It went to 28 African countries supporting concrete projects,” Birol said.