article · Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy
Access to clean cooking fuels and technologies is critical for combating environmental degradation, deforestation, air pollution, health problems, and poverty across Africa. An empirical examination of panel data across 38 African countries reveals key macroeconomic factors that shape this access over the long run. Growing rural populations, higher particulate matter emissions, and natural resource depletion significantly reduce long-term access to clean cooking solutions. Conversely, higher gross domestic product per capita markedly improves access. A two-way causal relationship exists between access to clean cooking fuels and technologies and these four indicators: GDP per capita, rural population, particulate emissions damage, and natural resource depletion. Enhancing economic output per person, driving investment, and conducting targeted advocacy are highlighted as essential measures to expand clean cooking adoption, particularly among vulnerable rural communities suffering from the impacts of particulate emissions.
Limited access to clean cooking technologies drives severe environmental degradation, deforestation, and hazardous indoor air pollution that impairs human health across Africa. Identifying how macroeconomic factors influence adoption helps policymakers and development organisations understand why clean energy transitions stall. This evidence underscores that economic development and targeted rural investment are fundamental to reducing environmental harm and protecting vulnerable populations from particulate emissions.
The research provides early-stage macroeconomic analysis to inform energy policy, development funding, and rural deployment programmes rather than presenting a direct market product. Clean cooking technology providers, energy developers, and impact investors can use these insights to gauge regional market conditions, recognising that viable commercial adoption in African contexts requires strategies that actively navigate low rural purchasing power, possibly through subsidy frameworks or targeted development capital.
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Abstract Clean cooking fuels and technologies remain essential in addressing the climate crises, environmental degradation, deforestation, air pollution, health complications, and poverty. Nevertheless, many countries in Africa lack access to clean fuels and technologies for cooking. The extant literature remains scarce on the determinants of clean cooking fuels and technologies using macroeconomic indicators covering many African countries in a single study. This article addresses this gap using panel data from 38 African countries. The paper shows that rural population, particulate matter emission, and natural resources depletion significantly decreased access to clean cooking fuels and technologies in the long run while the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita significantly increased access to clean cooking fuels and technologies in the long run in Africa. The results show a bi‐causal relationship between clean cooking fuels and technologies and rural population, GDP per capita, natural resource depletion, and particulate emissions damage. Understanding the determinants of clean cooking fuels and technologies will expand insights into addressing challenges associated with particulate emission damages. Governments in Africa should target improvements in GDP per capita, promote advocacies, and advocate for investments to address the limited access to clean cooking fuels and technologies, particularly for the rural poor.
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DOI: 10.1002/ep.14147
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