The Opec Fund for International Development (OFID) is expanding its partnership with the organization Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL). The goal is to accelerate access to clean cooking around the world, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
Accelerate the deployment of green cooking solutions in Africa. This is the goal of an agreement recently signed between the Opec Fund for International Development (OFID) and Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), an organization that works in partnership with the United Nations (UN), governments, the private sector, financial institutions, and civil society to strengthen and stimulate actions towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) which calls for universal access to renewable energy by 2030.
In this new part of their partnership, OFID and SEforALL intend to mutualize their efforts in order to facilitate the financing of the access to clean cooking in the world, notably in Africa south of the Sahara. As OFID reminds us, approximately 2.6 billion people still do not have access to ecological cooking solutions, with the lowest access rates recorded in sub-Saharan Africa.
Encouraging investment in clean cooking
Yet indoor air pollution from the use of traditional fuels (charcoal and wood, ed. note) for cooking causes millions of deaths each year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The global cost of using traditional fuels for cooking is estimated at $2.4 billion per year, while funding for clean cooking solutions falls far short of the $4.4 billion needed annually to ensure universal access by 2030, OFID says.
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“Through the Energy Compact process, unlocking much-needed financing, and providing data and analysis, we will accelerate progress toward SDG 7 and ensure a just and inclusive energy transition that leaves no one behind,” promises Damilola Ogunbiyi, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Sustainable Energy for All and co-chair of UN-Energy.
SEforALL and OFID are also planning to co-organize events to facilitate the sharing of perspectives between green cooking solution providers, governments, and financial institutions. With this in mind, the two partners co-organized the “Finance for Clean Cooking” event on March 23, 2022 in Vienna, Austria. The event explored concrete cooperation opportunities and innovative financing solutions to increase investment in clean cooking in developing countries.
Jean Marie Takouleu
