Access and Affordability

Accelerating progress towards electricity and clean cooking for all

Number of people globally who lack clean cooking access 2+ billion

In 2022, there were 760 million people in the world living without electricity access, while 2.3 billion people continued to rely on harmful and polluting cooking fuels such as charcoal, wood, agricultural waste and animal dung – the use of which is a leading cause of premature death and serious health issues in many of the poorest regions of the world.

The IEA is at the forefront of efforts to track and address global gaps in energy access. For more than two decades, the Agency has collected and published data on this subject – with a focus not only on making energy universally available, but also ensuring it is affordable. Together with its partners, the IEA is helping to build financial and policy momentum towards United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7, which aims to “ensure access to affordable, reliable and modern energy for all by 2030.”

Key findings

Despite major progress, more work is needed to deliver universal electricity access by 2030

In 2022, 91% of the world’s population had access to electricity, compared with 73% in 2000. There is much to celebrate in this gain. For example, 46 countries achieved universal access to electricity between 2000 to 2022. However, population growth has recently outpaced access growth. This left 10 million more people without electricity access in 2022 than in 2021 – the first time this number rose in more than a decade. While many factors contributed to this reversal, an important one was the disruptions to energy markets and prices stemming from global shocks such as the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine. Currently, more than 80% of the global population without access to electricity lives in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Tracking SDG7: The Energy Progress Report 2024

Number of people without access to clean cooking by scenario, 2022-2030

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$8 billion in annual investment could deliver universal access to clean cooking this decade

Air pollution from rudimentary cooking methods causes 3.7 million premature deaths per year, ranking it the third largest cause of premature death globally. Women suffer the worst impacts from the lack of clean cooking. The burden of fuel collection and making meals typically falls on women and takes on average 5 hours a day. This prevents many women from pursuing education and employment or from starting a business that could deliver financial independence.

However, universal access to clean cooking could be achieved with investment of $8 billion annually in stoves and infrastructure between now and 2030. This is less than 1% of what governments spent in 2022 globally on measures to keep energy affordable for their citizens.

A Vision for Clean Cooking for All

Annual investments required in the Access for All scenario, by region, 2030

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Speeding up clean energy transitions can make energy more accessible and affordable

Affordability is always a concern for consumers and policy makers, but this has been heightened in recent years by price spikes for fossil fuels during the global energy crisis. In 2022, during the global energy crisis, consumers globally spent nearly $10 trillion on energy – an average of more than $1,200 for every person on earth – even after subsidies and emergency support from governments are priced in. This is 20% more than the average over the previous five years, with high prices hitting the most vulnerable hardest, both in developing and advanced economies.

Speeding up the move to clean energy technologies can improve the affordability of energy and relieve pressures on the cost of living more broadly. IEA data shows that putting the world on track for net zero emissions requires additional investment – but also reduces the operating costs of the global energy system by more than half over the next decade compared with a trajectory that is based on today’s policy settings. This results in a more affordable energy system for consumers.

Strategies for Affordable and Fair Clean Energy Transitions

Energy delivery costs by scenario, 2023 and 2035

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Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa

Towards a turning point on clean cooking

IEA Clean Cooking Summit

More than 1 billion people who currently lack access to clean cooking are in Sub-Saharan Africa. Co-chaired by the leaders of the governments of Tanzania and Norway, and the African Development Bank and the IEA, the Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa aimed to address this major inequity and make 2024 a turning point on this crucial issue.

The Summit – which drew delegates from close to 60 countries, as well as companies and development institutions – set out concrete ways in which these groups can work together to solve the clean cooking challenge this decade. What’s more, it mobilised $2.2 billion in financial pledges from governments and the private sector, a record sum dedicated to clean cooking access at a single gathering.

The IEA is committed to ensuring that momentum is now maintained. We will carefully track pledges and commitments to make sure the money is spent in a timely manner and reaches those in need. And we will continue to play a convening role to engage more willing partners and generate new funds in order to meet the $4 billion a year in capital investments required between now and 2030 to achieve universal clean cooking access in Africa. 

This Summit has delivered an emphatic commitment to an issue that has been ignored by too many people, for too long. We still have a long way to go, but the outcome of this Summit, $2.2 billion committed, can help support fundamental rights such as health, gender equality and education while also reducing emissions and restoring forests.

Additional information and outputs:

Key analysis
Programmes and partnerships

Promoting sustainable and inclusive economic growth through energy data management and long-term planning in Sub-Saharan Africa.

“An Affordable and Sustainable Energy System for Sub-Saharan Africa” (Energy Sub-Saharan Africa) is a five-year programme (2019-2024) funded by the European Union. It supports work with Benin, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Uganda and Zambia, with the aim of promoting sustainable and inclusive economic growth through the transition towards a low-carbon and climate-resilient energy sector, while delivering universal and affordable energy access to all.

Supporting African governments as they develop improved programmes and policies to accelerate electricity access.

The project by the IEA and Power Africa draws on the IEA’s expertise to support governments with data-driven insights as they work to expand electricity access.

Enhancing geospatial analysis to show pathways to universal electricity access.

This open-source GIS tool, developed in collaboration with the MIT Energy Initiative, was designed to estimate and forecast electricity demand at the building-level in developing economies. The tool leverages a machine learning model trained on geo-referenced data of electricity consumption sourced from utility meters in three pilot countries – Ghana, Senegal and Uganda. It can then predict electricity demand for buildings that lack meter data or have yet to be electrified with high resolution and high accuracy. The tool can be applied to satellite images of entire countries, and produce significantly improved estimates for planners, utilities, and off-grid solar companies to identify target customers and communities.