A record 15mn people in the region are on course to have gained access to clean cooking in 2025, with LPG dominating the expansion, writes Yasmin Zaman
Governments and companies pledged a further $900mn for clean cooking initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa at a recent IEA online event, building on the $2.2bn secured at the IEA's Paris summit in 2024. The IEA also announced that $750mn of the $2.2bn had been disbursed.
LPG continues to underpin most of the continent's recent clean cooking gains, accounting for nearly three-quarters of all direct investment and almost half of the disbursements from the summit pledge to date. About 90pc of transitions since 2024 have been to LPG, IEA executive director Fatih Birol says. Around 12mn people gained access to clean cooking in sub-Saharan Africa in 2024, three times the number in 2010. Early indications suggest progress is accelerating, with a record 15mn people on course to have gained access in 2025, the IEA says in its 2026 progress report. LPG is the primary driver of the expansion. The fuel now accounts for 70pc of people in the region with clean cooking access.
LPG's dominance is reflected in recent investments. Direct spending on cooking equipment and related infrastructure reached $770mn in 2024, up from $590mn in 2020, with about three-quarters directed towards LPG, the report finds. End-use LPG investment alone reached about $380mn in 2024, while a further $190mn was spent on LPG infrastructure such as storage and refilling facilities.
West Africa leads the way in sub-Saharan African growth. Access to clean cooking rose more than twice as fast in the region compared with other parts of sub-Saharan Africa in 2020-24, accounting for 7.7mn people of the 11.9mn/yr who gained access in this period. Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Senegal are the main growth markets. In Senegal, butane imports almost doubled to about 11,000 b/d (372,000 t/yr) in 2025, to meet the needs of roughly 5mn people, the IEA says.
Demand for imported equipment has also grown. Imports of Chinese cookstoves to sub-Saharan Africa increased by more than 20pc to $235mn in 2025, from $190mn a year earlier, the report finds. LPG stoves recorded the largest increase among all technologies, rising by more than $22mn to about $150mn, while west Africa again showed the strongest regional growth.
Infrastructure expansions are supporting the uptake. LPG storage capacity in sub-Saharan Africa stands at around 800,000t, up by 12pc from 720,000t in 2021, with at least 250,000t of additional capacity under development, the IEA says. More than 40 ports in the region import LPG, with about 70pc located in west and east Africa. Recent additions include Kenya's Kilifi LPG terminal, while dedicated LPG projects are planned at Tanzania's Tanga and South Africa's Durban ports. These are some of the growing number of LPG storage projects across the region.
Nigeria is central to the movement, with the commissioning of the 650,000 b/d Dangote refinery significantly expanding domestic LPG production and reducing import needs over the past two years. The country accounts for about 300,000t of LPG storage capacity, almost 40pc of the sub-Saharan African total, the IEA says.
The $740mn has been disbursed across more than 30 African countries, and nearly half has gone directly to LPG, the IEA says. Biomass received just under 20pc, while electric cooking and biogas projects accounted for about 8pc each.
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The report highlights the challenges faced over supply security stemming from the strait of Hormuz closure during the Iran war. LPG imports to sub-Saharan Africa have been largely unaffected because the region receives less than 5pc from the Mideast Gulf, with 80pc arriving from the US. But African consumers have still been hit by surging domestic prices and reduced supply as global benchmarks and competition for US LPG exports rose. East African import prices doubled compared with 2025 averages, while west African prices rose by about 70pc, according to the IEA.
