Firewood, charcoal dominate kitchens despite big investments in clean cooking

Despite Kenya’s renewable energy gains, high costs continue to push most households towards charcoal for cooking. [Courtesy]

Kenya’s credentials as a leader in renewable energy in electricity production are blighted by the heavy use of fuels such as charcoal and firewood across Kenyan kitchens.

According to the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority, biomass accounted for the majority of indigenous energy production – which excludes imports such as petroleum – at 95 per cent.

This is despite Kenya having the highest electrification rates, with 75 per cent of the population connected to the electricity grid that is over 90 per cent powered by renewable sources, with many households avoiding using electricity to cook due to the high cost of power.

Despite heavy investments made in clean cooking by both government and private sector players, the products appear not to reach the vast majority of Kenyan homes.

According to data by the Ministry of Energy, only 31 per cent of Kenyans have access to clean cooking solutions.

“In Kenya, indigenous energy production is derived mainly from renewable sources, such as biomass, geothermal, hydropower, wind and solar energy. In 2025, the country’s indigenous energy production was 21,103.99 ktoe (kilotonne of oil equivalent), an increase from 20,162.48 ktoe in 2024,” said Epra in a statistical report for the year to June 2026. 

“Biomass accounted for the largest share, contributing approximately 95 per cent of total indigenous energy production, while the remaining five per cent was derived from other renewable energy sources.”

Kenya has, over time, grown electricity production from renewable energy sources, especially geothermal, wind and solar, which account for over 90 per cent of the electricity consumed in Kenya. The country is eyeing a transition to a 100 per cent green grid by 2030.

Despite the rise in power production from renewable energy sources, the transition to cleaner cooking appears to have stalled as access to affordable alternatives, including the high cost of electricity, remains a key concern, raising questions about whether Kenya’s renewable electricity success may not necessarily mean the country has moved away from polluting and inefficient fuels in its wider energy economy.

The 2022 KNBS Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) reveals a high dependence on traditional cooking fuels. In total, 68.5 per cent of the population, or 9.1 million households (1.7 million in urban areas and 7.4 million in rural areas), rely on traditional cooking fuel options as their primary source. Firewood remains the predominant cooking fuel.

The government is eyeing universal access to clean cooking by 2030, a date that has been pushed from an earlier target of 2028. In its clean cooking strategies, the government expects to support the transition of 10 per cent of Kenyan households to electric cooking by 2028 and later have electricity become the cooking fuel of choice for Kenyans by 2050.

Other fuels identified in the strategy include LPG, which is expected to take a significant share of 50 per cent and bioethanol (30 per cent), as well as biogas, briquettes and improved woodstoves.

Urban households have greater access to clean cooking partly on account of higher incomes, while rural homes rely more on firewood and charcoal partly due to the ease of access to biomass in rural areas.

The Ministry of Energy notes the disparity between the green grid and the dirty fuels used in Kenyans' kitchens.

“Sixty-eight per cent of Kenyans continue to rely on traditional cooking fuels such as firewood, charcoal and kerosene, leading to severe health and environmental consequences. Yet over 75 per cent of Kenyans are now connected to electricity, approximately 90 per cent of which is generated from renewable sources,” said the Energy Ministry in a strategy outlining how it plans to replace traditional biomass cooking with clean cooking.

“The achievement of universal access to clean cooking by 2030 leads to a substantial reduction in traditional biomass consumption, which is progressively replaced by LPG and electricity. Clean cooking policy by 2030 also plays a key role by phasing out inefficient traditional biomass stoves and supporting the transition towards modern cooking solutions.”

The Energy Ministry noted that there is an opportunity to convert Kenyans to cooking with electricity. In the clean cooking strategy document, the Ministry noted that “electric cooking, or eCooking, holds immense potential for Kenya. Not only as a pathway towards cleaner and more sustainable cooking methods but also as an avenue to address broader developmental challenges such as public health, environmental conservation and economic development.”

The Energy Ministry cited high initial upfront costs for electric cooking appliances and consumer concerns about the high cost of electricity, as well as its unreliability, as among the factors that have seen many households not adopting electric cooking.

It also noted that many Kenyans had traditionally relied on multiple fuels and continued to use firewood and charcoal alongside LPG out of habit rather than rationale.

The lukewarm uptake of clean cooking technologies is despite heavy investments in the subsector, with Kenya commanding the largest share of clean cooking investments in Africa.

In recent years, international climate funds, private equity and carbon markets have poured substantial capital into the country, enabling companies to scale up production of subsidised cookstoves.

“Despite continued high use of solid biomass, Kenya’s cooking sector is considered by some to be the most advanced in East Africa in terms of both the types of solutions available and the number of people with access to them,” said Clean Cooking Alliance.

“Despite increasing levels of electricity connections even in rural areas, electric cooking remains low, with potential to grow. Solar cooking remains rare in Kenya.”

Recent investments include the release of some of the funds investors committed at the 2024 Paris Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa, many of which designated Kenya as a primary hub for clean cooking investments but appear to fail in triggering a shift among many Kenyans.

A report tracking disbursement following the Paris Summit shows that Kenya has received more than Sh1.8 billion worth of investments following the Summit in France.

The July 2026 report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) noted that over the last two years, about $740 million (Sh96.2 billion) that had been pledged at the inaugural Africa clean cooking summit in 2024 had been disbursed to 30 African countries.

Kenya was the biggest recipient, with 19 per cent of the disbursements, translating to about $140 million (Sh1.8 billion) worth of investments in clean cooking technologies.

“As of the end of May 2026, nearly $740 million of the $2.2 billion pledged have been disbursed to projects across almost 30 African countries,” said the IEA in the report

“Around three-quarters of funds were channelled directly to in-country investments or projects, with Kenya the largest recipient (19 per cent), followed by Uganda, Tanzania, and South Africa (seven per cent each).”

“Around two-thirds of disbursements went toward the distribution and installation of end-use equipment such as cookstoves and cylinders.”

The government is eyeing further investments in the sector. President William Ruto in September this year said the government had mapped out a $600 million (Sh77 billion) investment pipeline for clean cooking in public institutions. These include more than 100,000 public schools, hospitals and correctional facilities.

“Kenya is pursuing a pragmatic multi-fuel approach that reflects market realities and consumer preferences. To translate that ambition into investments, we recently launched the institutions clean cooking investment pack. It identifies a $600 million investment opportunity across schools, health facilities and correctional services,” said Ruto, adding that Kenya would co-host the second Africa clean cooking summit in Nairobi in January 2027 alongside Norway, the US and the IEA.

Despite the success and the opportunity in Kenya’s clean cooking sector, there have been major failures, including the collapse of Koko Networks, which shut down and entered liquidation, which was, however, blamed on failure to secure government approval to export its carbon credits.

The firm, which sold bioethanol stoves as well as facilitated refills through a vast network of agents, had a huge customer base of over 1.5 million households who now have to look for alternatives but also risk relapsing to dirty fuels such as charcoal and kerosene.

Other than the greening up of its grid, Kenya has also made major leaps in the adoption of cooking gas across homes, schools and other institutions, with the per capita use of LPG standing at 8.9 kilogrammes as of June this year, which the Energy Ministry says can increase to 15 kilogrammes by 2030.

Kippra noted that the high use of biomass as the primary fuel for cooking continued to expose Kenyans to different health risks such as indoor air pollution and reduced forest and tree cover and increased greenhouse gas emissions.

The State-run think tank noted that efforts to transition Kenyan households to clean cooking faced challenges that include a persistent increase in the cost of cooking gas, while families that do not have gas cylinders face entry barriers due to the relatively high cost of the cylinders.

The Mwananchi Gas project, initially introduced in 2017 and promised ease of access to LPG, faced major challenges, and its implementation halted in 2018 as firms contracted to supply cylinders failed to meet required standards and quality.

“However, LPG prices have recently continued to increase, thus causing poor households to resort to dirty sources of cooking such as firewood, charcoal and kerosene,” said Kippra in a past analysis on promoting cooking gas use in Kenya.

Kippra noted that the government should relook at the LPG business in the country to include regulation of prices as well as put mechanisms in place to guarantee security of supply in times of uncertainty. It also called on the government to enhance regulation to “moderate the unscrupulous price increases on LPG by the private dealers based on their market share, which hinders the transition to clean cooking”.

While the government has been slow in moving to regulate LPG prices and also pushing the industry to undertake joint imports to lower the retail cost of cooking gas, it has also largely refrained from taxing the sector. This has been partly seen as among the factors that have pushed the growth of LPG uptake in the country.

In the year to June 2026, Epra said the per capita use of LPG in the country grew to 8.9 kilogrammes, up from 7.9 kilogrammes in 2025, moving the country closer to the target of 15 kilogrammes per capita consumption.

Consumption of cooking gas in Kenya more than tripled over the last decade to reach 475,950 metric tonnes in 2025, up from 150,000 metric tonnes in 2014.