In East Africa, millions of households still rely on firewood and charcoal for cooking, driving not only devastating health impacts but also widespread deforestation and significant greenhouse gas emissions. Transitioning to clean cooking is therefore both a public health imperative and a climate solution, with the potential to cut emissions, slow deforestation, and build more sustainable livelihoods.

Yet despite the availability of clean cooking technologies, the sector has struggled to attract large-scale investment due to fragmented markets, unclear business models, and limited policy alignment. This has left millions of households locked into unsafe and unsustainable cooking practices.

Dalberg worked with a coalition of funders and innovators to identify pathways to scale ethanol adoption as a clean cooking fuel. By analyzing financing bottlenecks, mapping ecosystem actors, and designing blended finance mechanisms, we outlined a roadmap for mobilizing capital into the sector. The work provided investors and policymakers with practical levers to expand access to affordable, clean cooking solutions while simultaneously reducing emissions, curbing deforestation, and advancing climate goals.

On paper, the possibility of a broad transition to electric cooking holds promise to significantly improve quality of life and unlock high-quality carbon credits. However, we took a locally contextualized approach to pressure-testing the business case—we spent time with people to understand their decision-making on cooking fuels, did mystery shopping to see how different clean cookstoves were pitched, and assessed the capacity and reliability of the electrical grid in target communities. This provided the key insights on the on-the-ground barriers that would need to be addressed for the opportunity to work.”

Sunru Yong

Partner, Dalberg Advisors