38% of global waste (810 million tonnes per year) is ‘uncontrolled’ (UNEP 2024), which meaning it is openly dumped or burned instead of being safely collected and treated. About 14% of people burn their waste at home because collection services are unreliable or unaffordable, and this figure reaches 41% in some regions such as East Africa.  The challenge is growing. As consumption patterns ch...

Countries in South Asia are suffering severe PM2.5 pollution with rapid economic development, impacting human health and the environment. Whilst much attention has been given to understanding the contribution of primary emissions, the contribution of agriculture to PM2.5 concentrations, especially from agricultural ammonia (NH3) emissions, remains less explored. Using an advanced regional atmosphe...

This Technical Guide for the Development of Long-Term Low Emission Development Strategies in Africa has been developed to assist African countries in formulating their LT-LEDS. This guide is motivated by the fact that, by June 2024, very few African countries (only ten) had developed and communicated their LT-LEDS to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Additionally,...

Around 90 percent of the population in Burkina Faso relies on biomass for cooking, contributing to deforestation, land degradation and indoor air pollution. This disproportionately affects women and children. In response, the World Food Programme launched a pilot project in 2025, introducing clean cooking - specifically solar-powered Electric Pressure Cookers (EPCs) in ten school canteens across v...

The residential sector is one of the main consumers of energy in Nepal, with cooking being a major end-use. Unprocessed solid biomass fuels are the primary cooking fuels, with approximately 60% of households relying on them for their cooking needs. However, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which is entirely imported, is being widely adopted in urban areas. Electricity, which is primarily based on hy...

From October 2019 to May 2020, a team of five Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po) master’s students were selected to work with the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) on a capstone project under the headline “Adopting Modern Energy Cooking Services in Lower Income Countries: Drivers & Constraints.” This broad topic was employed as a baseline to inform initial res...

The uptake of higher-tier (4+) clean cooking solutions, especially in last mile communities, is a critical but often underfunded and insufficiently prioritised need. Despite a diversity of viable technologies, including pure electric cooking (eCooking) powered by photovoltaic systems (solar PV) and PV-supported biomass gasifier stoves, as well as ethanol stoves, their widespread adoption remains a...

Recognizing the centrality of clean cooking as both a climate and development priority, this report offers practical guidance on how clean cooking can be systematically included as a priority sector in NDC preparation and implementation, helping to unlock investment and accelerate the shift towards more sustainable and resilient societies. Above all, it is intended as a resource to support governm...

Aimed at policymakers, development practitioners and the private sector, this policy brief aims to:Offer policy recommendations on pathways to scaling up clean cooking solutions and technologies in developing countries.Present actionable policy and programming areas to advance clean cooking alongside climate and development goals, to ensure equity, social justice, health, and the well-being of peo...

One of the central aspects of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is the significant role that stakeholders have been assigned in their implementation, follow-up and review.Six years into the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, several countries’ strategies to engage stakeholders are still in the early stages. Many stakeholder enga...