Achieving Net Zero Cooking for All by 2050
17 September 2023
A high-level side event held on 17 September, during SDG Action Weekend, examined what is needed to achieve net zero cooking for all by 2050, based on the Global Roadmap for a just and inclusive cooking energy transition that had been launched earlier this year. At the event, organized by WHO in collaboration with the World Bank and UN-Energy, ministers and senior officials from champions such as Kenya, Norway, Panama and Sierra Leone joined experts from the UN system and NGOs for a frank discussion of why progress has been so slow on reducing the ranks of the 2.3 billion people cooking with dirty fuels, causing 4 million deaths each year from indoor smoke. They strategized how to mobilize more finance and political support, and to explore joining forces with electrification schemes by pursuing electric cooking options.