By Adonis Byemelwa
The International Energy Agency had a high-level ministerial debate in Paris last week that brought together leading energy executives from all across the world. People do not talk about how they cook their food very much, though it affects millions of people every day.
Tanzania felt both happy and worried about the occurrence. It was a chance to show real development while also dealing with the problems that still plague the design of kitchens in a lot of the country.
Deogratius Ndejembi, Tanzania’s Minister of Energy, made a shocking adjustment in front of ministries, investors, and development partners. He claimed that the number of people who could use clean cooking energy has gone up from 6.9% in 2021 to 23.2% in 2025.
On paper, the rise appears like one of the fastest growths in the area in recent years. It illustrates that corporate suppliers, government organisations, and donors are all working together to convince people to cease using charcoal and biomass.
However, numbers do not usually illustrate how long it takes to gather firewood before school or work starts or how the smell of smoke lingers in a rural kitchen at dawn. The change is still not equal in places that are not major hubs.
More than 23% of people in cities may now get cleaner options, but just approximately 2.5% of households in rural Tanzania have used them. This discrepancy is a useful reminder that energy transitions still have effects on people because of where they live, how much money they have, and how the economy works.
Norway and the African Development Bank co-chaired the Paris dialogue. It was not so much about making statements as it was about doing things swiftly. Delegates were full of adrenaline from the 2024 Africa Clean Cooking Summit, which collected $2.2 billion in commitments.
The main topic of conversation in the conference halls right now is both more intricate and simpler: Will the supply of canisters, the installation of stoves, and the removal of smoke from households uphold those promises?
The impacts are quite personal in Tanzania. Biomass fuels are still used in more than 90% of dwellings. Doctors and public health experts claim that these fuels’ indoor air pollution kills more than 33,000 people per year.
This number is about the same as some of the most prominent health concerns in the country, but they happen in people’s homes. Economists say that the time spent getting fuel, dealing with disease, and cleaning up the environment costs the country more than three per cent of its GDP per year.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan has made clean cooking a top political and development goal. She initiated the National Clean Cooking Strategy in May 2024 with the goal of getting 80% of people to utilise it by 2034. The idea goes beyond only energy policy. More and more, officials are saying that the change is a mix of a health intervention, a climate policy, and a gender issue.
Women’s groups have been emphasising for a long time that the fuels used to cook increase the risks that come up every day. Gathering firewood takes a long time and is dangerous for women and girls. In a lot of rural homes, it takes time away from school or employment that could be used for those things. Advocates claim that cleaner cooking impacts not simply what people put in their stoves, but also how they spend their time.
Still, sometimes, ambition and money do not go together. The most quickly scalable alternative right now is liquefied petroleum gas, but many people cannot afford the high costs up front. Low-income families soon spend their additional money on transportation, cylinders, and burners. Outside of cities, distribution networks are not good enough; whole districts have to rely on supply channels that are not always reliable, even when there is demand.
Officials from the government indicated that it will cost around $1.8 billion to develop new storage facilities, make transportation more efficient, and connect retail networks to rural areas. We do not know yet what kind of investment it will be, whether it will be private money, grants, or low-interest loans.
Officials insist that the plan is already being put into action, and it’s not just rhetoric. This year, the government wants to hand out 200,000 improved cookstoves and assist with paying for 450,000 LPG cylinders. The point of a trial program that allows customers to pay for electric kitchen appliances with their electricity bills is to cut the expenses initially. This initiative is based on approaches to pay for solar home systems that have worked in other parts of Africa.
Charcoal and wood are no longer allowed in schools, hospitals, and other places that serve more than 100 people. This is another stage that has gained a lot of press. Supporters claim that the rule makes it easier to find cleaner fuels and lowers the risk of deforestation and health problems for students and patients. Some individuals quietly wonder how well the law can be enforced in locations where there are not many other options.
There was a lot of conversation in Paris about how policy aims do not always match up with what happens in real life. The delegates all agreed that cooking safely in Africa is a huge challenge, but they also commended Tanzania’s growth. Even if subsidies are well-planned, they might not function if last-mile delivery is not reliable. Also, behavioural change usually happens more slowly than policy timetables imply it will.
Leaders will gather in Nairobi this July for a second continental summit designed to test whether promised investments are beginning to reshape markets on the ground, and, more importantly, daily life inside ordinary kitchens. Governments are searching for affordable solutions. Funders want measurable adoption. Families, meanwhile, are simply asking for reliability they can trust from month to month.
After the 2024 gathering, Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency, argued that the clean-cooking challenge could be solved within this decade if financing and political commitment remain steady. The gains, he noted, are immediate and deeply practical: fewer hospital visits, slower forest loss, cleaner air and more time for work, school and rest.
In Tanzania, those possibilities are beginning to take shape, especially in urban centres. Electric cooking is increasingly viewed as practical rather than aspirational. Growing stacks of LPG cylinders across markets in Dar es Salaam signal changing demand and rising confidence among consumers. Nevertheless, beyond the cities, many rural households still depend on wood fires. The contrast shows how slowly habits formed over generations shift, even when policy momentum accelerates.
During ministerial discussions in Paris, delegates repeatedly returned to lived experience rather than abstract targets. Conversations focused on dignity, comfort and the simple relief of breathing smoke-free air at home.
Frameworks supported by the United Nations now frame clean cooking as a combined health, climate and gender priority. Lessons are emerging elsewhere. Kenya expanded LPG access through mobile payments, India accelerated adoption through national subsidies, and Rwanda paired electric-cooking pilots with forest protection: different paths, but similar foundations: reliable supply, public trust and fair pricing.
Tanzanian conservationist Dr Felician Kilahama argues kitchens, forests and livelihoods must advance together. Real success appears quietly, a grandmother cooking without coughing, a student studying under steady light. Progress ultimately lives between policy papers and family dinners, where cleaner air and calmer evenings turn ambition into something lasting and deeply personal.
