Household Energy for Cooking

Reliance on solid fuels for cooking is
an indicator of energy poverty. Access to modern energy
services - including electricity and clean fuels - is
important for achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
It can also reduce womens domestic burden of collecting
fuelwood and allow them to pursue educational, economic, and
other employment opportunities that can empower them and
lead to increased gender equality. Similarly, the use of
clean cooking and heating fuels in efficient appliances can
reduce child mortality rates. Without access to modern
energy services, the likelihood of escaping poverty is very
low. Interventions to improve energy access to the poor
have focused mainly on electricity access and have often
neglected nonelectricity household energy access. Household
energy for cooking in particular has received little policy
attention in the overall energy sector dialogue, and
consequently its lending volume remains low, in spite of the
magnitude of the development challenges it represents. The
objective of this note is to assist task teams with broad
project design principles related to household energy for
cooking. It follows five main reports produced by the World
Bank Group over the last three years: (1) Household
Cookstoves, Environment, Health, and Climate Change: A New
Look at an Old Problem; (2) Household Energy Access for
Cooking and Heating: Lessons Learned and the Way Forward;
(3) One Goal, Two Paths Achieving Universal Access to Modern
Energy in East Asia and Pacific; (4) Wood-Based Biomass
Energy Development for Sub-Saharan Africa; and (5) What Have
We Learned about Household Biomass Cooking in Central
America? These reports make the case for a re-engagement of
the World Bank Group in the household energy access sector.
This note is organized into two sections: (a) context and
background, and (b) project design principles.