Rural Household Cooking Energy Transitions in the Global South: Towards Integrated User-Centered Cooking Energy Systems

Approximately 2.2 billion rural people in the Global South cook with solid biomass fuels. Despite decades of promoting the so-called clean fuels, the transition from biomass to these fuels in rural areas remains very limited. High fuel-price-to-income ratios, weak last-mile supply chains, single-fuel program designs, and strong culinary and cultural preferences limit exclusive use and lead to stacking with open fires. Drawing on representative rural household energy initiatives in the Global South, we conclude that systemic, integrated strategies—grounded in local cooking practices, designed to sustain long-term use, and enabling cleaner stacking across fuels and technologies, including improved biomass stoves—are more likely to succeed. Programs should prioritize participatory co-design, context-appropriate technology options, reliable supply chains and financing, and ongoing monitoring to promote sustained use. Ultimately, lasting progress in household cooking depends on combining energy interventions with broader efforts to eradicate extreme poverty and strengthen local livelihoods.