Across Africa, over 900 million people still rely on traditional fuels like wood, charcoal, and kerosene for daily cooking. While often overlooked, this basic household routine has devastating consequences: it harms human health, accelerates deforestation, and contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions.
Yet amid these challenges, a new wave of innovation is emerging, one that combines technology, financing, and grassroots entrepreneurship to bring clean cooking solutions to scale.
This isn’t just a local issue. It’s a $10 billion+ global market opportunity, tied directly to the world’s most urgent priorities: climate action, public health, gender equity, and universal energy access.
Cooking Kills and Pollutes
The numbers are staggering:
- 3.7 million deaths globally each year are linked to indoor air pollution from cooking (WHO, 2023), with the vast majority in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Women and children suffer the most, spending hours daily collecting firewood and inhaling smoke equivalent to smoking 400 cigarettes per hour.
- Traditional cookstoves and fuels contribute up to 2-3% of global carbon emissions, more than the aviation industry.
- Deforestation caused by fuelwood demand contributes to land degradation, biodiversity loss, and climate vulnerability.
And yet, the climate finance flows into the clean cooking sector is limited though the momentum is building. A new generation of African startups and social enterprises is tackling the clean cooking crisis with affordable, efficient, and scalable solutions, including:
- LPG and ethanol stoves designed for safety and efficiency
- Electric cookstoves tied to solar home systems and mini-grids
- Biomass stoves that reduce fuel use by up to 70%
- Pay-as-you-go models enabled by mobile money
- Carbon finance-backed distribution, monetizing emissions reductions through verified credits
According to the Clean Cooking Alliance, the clean cooking sector could reach $10–15 billion in annual revenue by 2030, with the right blend of innovation, investment, and policy support.
Clean Stoves: Small Device, Massive Impact
Clean cooking represents one of the most inclusive energy investments possible. It reduces health burdens on women, frees up time for education and work, and builds local jobs in assembly, distribution, and maintenance. It touches nearly every Sustainable Development Goal—climate action, gender equality, health, clean energy, and economic growth.
What’s more, it reflects a broader truth: solving real, everyday problems is the next frontier of global growth. Clean cooking is not about shiny technology or speculative ventures. It’s about redesigning something as basic as how people make food—at scale, with dignity, and with measurable impact.
📣 The Time is Now
Solving real, everyday problems is the next global growth story. And clean cooking is at the center of it. At Oxano Capital, we are actively looking to support the ventures and visionaries behind this movement. We believe the clean stove revolution is Africa’s opportunity to lead in a sector where innovation meets inclusion, and where the smallest device can spark the biggest change.
The opportunity is massive, the need is urgent, and the moment is now. If you’re building in clean energy access, let’s talk.