Electric Cooking Could Transform Health, Energy, and Climate—Here’s How
For more than 90% of the world’s population, cooking typically involves burning fuels like gas, wood, or animal dung to heat food. As these fuels are polluting, preparing food has consequences far beyond the kitchen, affecting public health, air quality, and climate.
But for billions of people, cleaner cooking isn’t an option due to a lack of access to electricity, electric cooking appliances, or both. Moreover, many people are reluctant to switch to electric cooking. Often, this reluctance is rooted in misconceptions about taste, convenience, or affordability.
Nyamolo Abagi wants to change this. As a leader of CLASP’s electric cooking work, she collaborates with policymakers, manufacturers, and clean cooking advocates to communicate the wide-ranging benefits of electric cooking (also known as e-cooking) and make the technology more accessible across the Global South.
Abagi spoke with CLASP’s Marina Baur about this work.
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Marina Baur: Electric cooking technologies have been around for a long time, but it seems like momentum is growing behind the idea that transitioning to them could really benefit society as a whole. Why is this happening now? What’s changed to make this a viable option globally?
Nyamolo Abagi: The one requirement for electric cooking is reliable electricity supply to run your appliance, whether that’s an induction stove, oven, or electric pressure cooker. And in the Global South, where millions of people still live without power, that’s not always a given.
But over the last 10 years, we’ve brought electricity to a lot more homes. So now we’re facing a massive opportunity. We have millions of people who are newly connected to electricity, often via distributed renewable energy, but they’re only using if for very basic energy services like lighting, phone charging, or watching TV. There’s a huge opportunity for e-cooking around the world to scale.
Abagi (fourth from the left) at an e-cooking competition using induction cookstoves in New Delhi, India.
CLASP
Another important factor is that e-cooking technologies today are mature and ready to scale. Over the last few years, these appliances have become extremely efficient.
And current events are underscoring just how important the transition to efficient, electric cooking appliances is. The geopolitical tensions in the Middle East are exposing the fragility of energy fuel supply, as leaders across many regions fear that gas shortages may affect people’s ability to cook.
As a result, we’re seeing a dramatic surge in induction cooktop sales. For example, last week Amazon India recorded a 20-fold increase in demand within 24 hours compared to a normal day.
This current moment is a powerful reminder that the transition to electric cooking is about far more than climate alone—it’s also about resilience and energy security—and the time to leverage these benefits is now.
Baur: Even as interest in e-cooking grows, people have cooked with fuels like wood since early in human history. What other benefits could make them want to switch to?
Abagi: Probably the biggest benefit is health. CLASP did extensive research in Europe into the health impacts of cooking with gas stoves, and the data clearly showed that households using gas breathe in twice as much indoor air pollution as those with electric appliances. You can imagine what the numbers might look like for households with a biomass stove. This indoor pollution can be linked directly to respiratory diseases like asthma, and it leads to coughing, wheezing, and increased hospital visits, particularly for vulnerable groups like children.
And now imagine this in a Global South context. Across Africa and Asia, more and more people are moving into cities, where they often live in densely populated apartment complexes. Yet many people, especially the lower middle class, are still cooking with a biomass or charcoal stove. Whether they’re cooking in their kitchens or on their little balconies with the door open, there’s a lot of smoke coming into their homes. In tightly packed, often poorly ventilated buildings, that’s only going to exacerbate the issue of indoor air pollution.
Besides that, cooking on an open flame increases the risk of fire and fire-related incidents. Imagine a family with kids. Kids tend to be very curious, and they might accidently tip over the charcoal stove and end up with a first-, second-, or third-degree burn. This is actually quite common.
And—this is something I only recently realized myself—induction cooktops, with no open flames, no harmful gas residue, lightweight designs, and touch‑based controls instead of knobs, are revolutionary for differently abled people with limited mobility. They can be operated safely, moved easily, placed on the floor, and even used with toes, restoring independence in ways I hadn’t previously imagined.
Many of these health and safety aspects also extend to institutional settings. Think about schools, hospitals, or prisons where cooks prepare meals for thousands of people every day. In sub-Saharan Africa, most of these kitchens still rely on biomass such as wood. Studies have shown that temperatures in these big kitchens are upwards of 10 degrees Celsius hotter than ambient temperature, and humidity is also high. Now imagine that’s your job that you go to every single day. Transitioning to electric cooking would be a big step to ensure the health and safety of these folks who are responsible for feeding our children and sick people.
Transitioning away from wood stoves in institutional kitchens can also have huge environmental benefits. Right now, most have to cut down so many trees to heat their food that both policymakers and the institutions themselves have recognized the need for change.
Cooks at a school kitchen in Kenya where chopping wood and cooking meals on a wood stove are part of their daily duties.
CLASP
And think about what this could mean for utilities. Some people believe that e-cooking would burden the grid, but this is a myth. If done right, electric cooking can actually help strengthen the energy system. This is because utilities make money by selling electricity. When they connect more homes to the grid, they often have to borrow a lot of money to build that infrastructure. But if those households barely use electricity, as is the case in many parts of the Global South, how do utilities pay that money back? That’s a chicken and egg problem. We need electricity to be more reliable, but utilities have little incentive to invest in improvements if they are not earning enough.
That’s where e-cooking can come in. It increases everyday electricity use in a predictable way, which gives utilities more income and a stronger reason to keep the power reliable.
There’s another aspect to e-cooking that I’m really excited about: It creates huge economic opportunity. Imagine all the new green jobs for retailers, technicians, importers, manufacturers, and improved economics and working conditions for small businesses that prepare food.
With the population growing quickly and unemployment rising, youth employment is a big concern for many African governments right now. Including electric cooking in a jobs strategy is a triple win for jobs, climate, and health.
I have visited assembly plants in Asia that manufacture electric cooking appliances. CLASP is incubating one here in Africa that is doing all of its welding locally.
And the even bigger opportunity is what could happen through South–South collaboration, for example between India and countries in Africa, or India and Nepal. There is real potential for knowledge transfer and joint ventures. This might mean Indian companies partnering with African distributors or manufacturers who understand local markets. It could even mean acquiring some of the businesses we are helping to grow. If that happens, that would be a great success story; it’s how markets mature.
Baur: If the benefits are so massive, why isn’t this happening faster? What’s holding things back, and how can we get past those challenges?
Abagi: In many countries—including Kenya, where I’m taking this interview from—electricity is expensive and often still unreliable. So for a lot of people, e-cooking is a dead-on-arrival message. It is a bit like telling me about a luxury electric car. I might say, “That sounds great, but I cannot afford it.”
But the picture is more complicated than it seems. If you do a dish-by-dish comparison, you will find that e-cooking is not only more efficient but also actually more affordable than gas or biomass. So misconceptions around affordability are one of the biggest bottlenecks we need to overcome as stakeholders in the energy access and clean cooking space. What we can do is generate strong data and evidence to show utilities that energy-efficient, affordable technologies already exist and that there are practical ways for customers to procure them.
With the right data, we can also get utilities’ support in strengthening the e-cooking ecosystem. For example, to address affordability concerns, utilities could experiment with a dedicated tariff for electric cooking. Internet of Things technologies now make it possible to collect detailed usage data. Some of these devices are very simple: you plug them into the wall, then plug the cooking appliance into it, and it captures meter data on how often the appliance is used and how much electricity it consumes.
With that kind of information, a utility could design a tariff specifically linked to electric cooking that is slightly lower than the standard rate. That could serve as a practical incentive to encourage people to cook with electricity more regularly, including at an institutional level.
There are also other barriers to overcome. The shift to e-cooking isn’t just about technology or money; culture also plays a big role. What many people really care about is stuff like, “Is my food going to taste as good as my grandmother’s dishes if I shift away from the cooking methods we’ve been using for generations?”
Fortunately, it’s easy to demonstrate that food cooked with electricity can be delicious, and that many traditional recipes can be cooked this way. Take pressure cookers, for example—they’re so efficient that you’re preserving a lot more of the flavors and nutrients in your food. I wish I could do a blind taste test with people that are attached to the idea that food cooked on biomass tastes better. I’m sure they would be surprised.
Abagi (second from the left) testing e-cooking appliances with differently abled homemakers participating as 'citizen scientists' in a workshop in Jakarta, Indonesia.
CLASP
Additionally, I’m not saying that 100% of the dishes have to be prepared using electricity. Wherever you are in the world, we’re all using different appliances in our kitchens: You might have an oven, a toaster, a microwave, a blender, an air fryer, and so on. So when we talk about transitioning to e-cooking, what we’re advocating for is to move households toward electric cooking as their primary cooking method, covering about 70% of our cooking needs. There will always be some dishes that have to be prepared in different ways—some people have wood-fired pizza ovens; others may enjoy grilling in the summertime. For these special cases, it’s fine for people to keep using biomass, as a way to preserve culture and tradition.
Another aspect people don’t like to talk about is that policymaking around cooking is often male-dominated, even though women do most of the cooking. This creates a disconnect between lived experience and policy design – and momentum for change.
Whenever I speak to policymakers, I joke with them that we would solve this issue today if they would pass a law that men have to do all the cooking for one year. Men would still have to do their other jobs and then come home and cook the meals. And of course, the moment men had to cook every day after work, I have a strong hunch the first question they would ask is: “surely there must be better way to do this?”
Think about cooking beans, for instance. If you have ever cooked beans on a gas or charcoal stove, you know it’s complicated. You’re constantly wondering: Did I pour too much water? Did I seal the pot properly? Is it going to bubble over and create a big mess? With a pressure cooker, I no longer worry about these things. I can turn it on, be in a Zoom call, and even if I completely forget about it, the pressure cooker is going to turn itself off when it’s done, and my beans will be waiting for me, warm and ready to eat.
Right now, a lot of people, most of them women, are spending so much of their time babysitting their beans. That time and mental space could be used more productively to do other things.
A consumer participating as a ‘citizen scientist’ in a hands-on cooking workshop in Kenya, cooking a local staple dish on an induction cooktop.
CLASP
Baur: CLASP is doing a lot of work to accelerate the electric cooking transition. What does that work look like and what is it going to take to fully make the shift?
Abagi: What CLASP is trying to do is build an e-cooking ecosystem where we bring together policymakers, utilities, manufacturers, and households, directly involving consumers to build trust in new technologies.
The Global LEAP Awards that CLASP conducts are a great example of this. It involves usability testing, which means putting the e-cooking appliances directly into the hands of real people and having them test them. It allows us to collect data in a scientific way—for example, understanding the actual cost of cooking specific dishes. But it’s also about the people themselves: It gives them agency. They become part of the effort and part of shaping what clean cooking looks like in practice. It matters, because making this shift really does require everyone.
CLASP is also a core partner of the MECS program, which stands for Modern Energy Cooking Services and is dedicated to speeding up the shift to clean electric cooking. CLASP’s role is mostly in venture building and market shaping. That means we help innovative e-cooking businesses grow and reach more homes across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. We also work with governments, regulators, and funders to strengthen the policies, standards, and financing that make it possible for people to adopt these technologies.
What we’re seeing is that policymakers are already signaling their commitment. If you look at many African countries today, whether through national clean cooking or electrification strategies, clean cooking, including electric cooking, is becoming a priority.
But policy signals are only the first step. Utilities need to improve reliability; consumers need to know that electric cooking is possible and practical for them.
And it is. Irrespective of where you are in the world, there are technologies today that would make your cooking more efficient and affordable. And the two that really jump out are pressure cookers and induction cooktops. So let’s get them in as many homes as we can.
Interview edited and condensed.
Find CLASP at The Kenya International Investment Conference
From 25 to 27 March 2026, CLASP, as part of the Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS), will attend the Kenya International Investment Conference (KIICO) in Nairobi, Kenya. CLASP’s Director of Clean Energy Access, Nyamolo Abagi, will moderate the panel discussion, “Policy/Regulatory Frameworks and Enhancing Institutional Coordination to Accelerate the Clean Cooking Sector” and Clean Energy Access Venture Building Manager, Towett Ngetich, and MECS Researcher and Program Lead, Jon Leary, will present at the side event, “Investment Opportunity Spotlight: From Sector Pack to Bankable Pipeline.”
At a time when Africa’s economy is in the midst of transformation and growth, KIICO provides a platform for visionary policymakers and investors across key sectors, including clean cooking and renewable energy, to transform ideas into action, mobilize capital, and forge new partnerships. It’s where investment, policy, and partnerships come together to shape the trajectory of the country’s, and the continent’s, economic growth.
Register for the event and connect with CLASP’s experts in person.
To invite CLASP experts to speak at your KIICO event, please contact Stella Madete, communications manager, at smadete@clasp.ngo.
Connect with CLASP at KIICO:
Event title | Date and time | Location | Host | Register |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Sector Pack Presentation by TWG: “Investment Opportunity Spotlight: From Sector Pack to Bankable Pipeline” | 27 March | Radisson Blu Hotel Nairobi, Upper Hill | Clean Cooking Working Group | Register to attend the conference |
Policy/Regulatory Frameworks and Enhancing Institutional Coordination to Accelerate the Clean Cooking Sector | 27 March | Radisson Blu Hotel Nairobi, Upper Hill | Clean Cooking Working Group | Register to attend the conference |
CLASP at your next event
Our team of experts leads the global conversation on the role of efficient appliances in fighting climate change and improving people’s lives. Please email us to learn more about the ways we can collaborate and connect.
Make a guest speaker inquiryRising Temperatures Put Millions Across Latin America and the Caribbean at Risk as Cooling Appliances Remain Inefficient
Washington, DC, 25 February 2026 — As temperatures rise and demand for air conditioning accelerates, new research reveals that nearly 70 million people across Latin America and the Caribbean exposed to rising heat risks lack efficient cooling appliances.
Despite the region’s growing need for sustainable cooling, only 15% of households own an air conditioner, leaving millions vulnerable to extreme heat. For many families, the affordability of purchasing and operating an air conditioner remains a key barrier to sustainable cooling access. Consequently, the lack of access to adequate cooling along with rising temperatures severely affects human health.
A new report from CLASP and the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD), with the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) finds that these challenges are compounded by environmental dumping—the export of low-efficiency, climate-harming cooling equipment that does not meet existing standards in its country of origin.
Environmental dumping raises household energy bills, increases greenhouse gas emissions, and threatens to lock the region into decades of low-efficiency and polluting cooling infrastructure.
- The research, which focused on Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, Mexico, and Uruguay, finds:
- 44% of all new air conditioners sold in Latin America and the Caribbean are categorized as environmental dumping, which means they cannot be legally sold in the countries where they are manufactured.
- More than one-third of new room air conditioners sold in the region use obsolete refrigerants, which are currently phased down or phased out under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and its Kigali Amendment.
- Existing cooling access gaps disproportionately affect low-income households and women, and the influx of outdated equipment deepens energy inequality and increases emissions.
- Without stronger efficiency and refrigerant standards, the region could lock in 173 million tons of CO₂e by 2050, emissions equivalent to more than three coal-fired power plants over the next 20 years.
Despite these challenges, the report highlights clear positive pathways for action. Brazil and Grenada are emerging as regional leaders by adopting modern efficiency standards and climate-friendly refrigerant policies and initiatives that protect consumers and close the door to environmental dumping.
While strong national efficiency policies are among the most effective ways for countries to protect themselves from environmental dumping, solutions ultimately require shared responsibility and close collaboration between importing- and exporting-country governments, the private sector, civil society, and international partners.
As extreme heat becomes a defining risk, access to efficient and climate-friendly cooling appliances is no longer optional; it is essential,” said Martina Otto, Head of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition Secretariat. “This year marks ten years since the adoption of the Kigali Amendment, a decade that has demonstrated how effective international partnerships can drive meaningful action. By acting together now, importing and exporting countries have a clear opportunity to shape markets, protect communities, and steer the inevitable growth in cooling toward solutions that advance climate justice while delivering economic, social, and environmental benefits.
Environmental dumping is an equity issue. As our research shows, millions of people across Latin America and the Caribbean are being left behind with inefficient, outdated cooling equipment that costs too much money to run. Manufacturers have the know-how to produce better appliances but are lacking the right incentives to manufacture and export them to Latin America and other regions in the Global South. This undermines people’s ability to stay safe in a warming world and deepens existing inequalities. —Ana Maria Carreño, Senior Director of Climate at CLASP
We must pursue innovative business models that do not export energy poverty and other burdens of obsolete cooling technologies to vulnerable countries in the Global South. Multilateral platforms, South-South cooperation, and collaborative government-industry partnerships can help. In this way, these countries can leapfrog to becoming innovation hubs for next-generation cooling solutions that support clean air, climate resilience, and prosperity. —Tad Ferris, Senior Counsel at IGSD
For inquiries, please reach out to Marina Baur, Senior Communication Associate, CLASP at mbaur@clasp.ngo.
Power for All Joins the CLASP Family
Nairobi, Kenya, 11 February 2026 – Strong and agile partnerships have been key to unlocking climate progress and sustainable development objectives. Today, a new collaboration emerges: we are delighted to announce that Power for All will join forces with CLASP.
CLASP is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to improving appliance and equipment energy efficiency, with 25 years of expertise and offices on five continents. Since 2015, Power for All has played a crucial role in the energy access sector, leading impactful campaigns, partnerships, and research to help end energy poverty worldwide.
Now, Power for All joins CLASP. By embedding Power for All’s well-honed campaign and partnership approaches in CLASP’s work, we will strengthen engagement with energy suppliers as well as our collective capacity to elevate appliance and equipment efficiency as a key solution to powering jobs and livelihoods while mitigating climate pollution.
CLASP CEO Christine Egan sees this union as a strategic move for making faster, practical progress:
Since its founding, Power for All has encouraged the distributed renewables sector to expand its thinking and partnerships for improved impact, for example, to make smarter connections with utilities. By joining forces, CLASP and Power for All will advance the integration of energy supply and energy demand. This is a critical move for sustainably getting people the energy services they need, and a direction that CLASP recently articulated in our flagship research, The Missing Piece of Energy Access. Together, our research and stakeholder networks will create a platform to super-charge climate-friendly prosperity. —Christine Egan
Since 2015, Power for All has challenged the status quo and encouraged the sector to probe deeper and better understand how best to drive a more inclusive global energy system. Over the years, they have led boundary-pushing research, publishing sector-defining report series such as their “Powering Jobs Census,” which tracks employment trends in the distributed renewable energy sector and provides critical labor market insights in key countries like Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda. Additionally, their ground-breaking Utilities 2.0 campaign sought to demonstrate the benefits of combining centralized and decentralized energy into an integrated energy network. This first-of-its-kind campaign showed that doing so could deliver customer-centric, clean energy solutions faster and more cheaply.
Kristina Skierka, founder of Power for All, reflects on the organization’s legacy and its new chapter:
Power for All was born from the companies that built the decentralized renewable energy sector in order to help accelerate the end of energy poverty. The combined efforts of Power for All and 500+ campaign partners in our decade of action helped connect over 500 million new energy users around the world. I’m encouraged by CLASP’s institutional strength, mission alignment, and global reach to steward the campaign’s legacy, and I remain deeply grateful to every advocate, ally, and team member who helped build this movement. —Kristina Skierka
Over the coming months, as this union takes shape, expect revived and historical Power for All offerings across CLASP channels.
Regarding the partnership, Alba Topulli, outgoing CEO at Power for All, and incoming Senior Director of Clean Energy Access at CLASP, adds:
CLASP has built one of our sector’s most trusted platforms through decades of shaping appliance markets and advancing energy efficiency, grounded in how people actually use energy. Power for All’s years of campaigning and coalition-building have shown us that systems change happens when we move together as a sector—aligning supply and demand, connecting public and private actors, and ensuring centralized and decentralized systems work as one. Together, we’re committed to a shift toward integrated energy solutions that put people at the center and make demand-side initiatives foundational to how energy access is planned, financed, and delivered. —Alba Topulli
Alba Topulli joins CLASP as Senior Director, Clean Energy Access
Adam Browning, Chair of the Board for Power for All, said:
Power for All has always championed bold collaboration and systems-level thinking to accelerate universal energy access. CLASP’s trusted leadership, global reach, and deep technical expertise offer a strong platform to expand our collective impact, grounded in shared purpose and a belief that demand-side solutions must be central to the energy access agenda. The Board is proud to support this strategic partnership, which honors Power for All’s work and positions it for greater scale and impact in the years ahead. —Adam Browning
CLASP and Power for All are delighted to unite forces and are confident that together, we can achieve even greater impact for people, enhanced prosperity, and the planet.
Watch this space as Power for All officially joins the CLASP family and collaborative efforts are announced. Follow us on LinkedIn at @CLASP and on Bluesky at @clasp-ngo.bsky.social.
Alba Topulli Joins CLASP as Senior Director, Clean Energy Access
CLASP welcomes Alba Topulli as the new Senior Director of Clean Energy Access at CLASP. In this role, Alba will lead CLASP’s efforts to scale jobs and economic opportunity and strengthen climate resilience through improved access to affordable and efficient appliances and equipment. Alba will be based in CLASP’s Nairobi office.
Over the last two decades, Alba has worked at the intersection of business, government, and the social sector, focusing on how strategy, research, and innovation can translate into scalable solutions that expand energy access. Much of that experience has been deeply collaborative, working directly with teams and partners in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, and Uganda to design and deliver market-led, modern energy solutions responsive to local contexts.
Most recently, Alba served as Chief Executive Officer of Power for All and led the organization through a period of strategic evolution, positioning the campaign for its next phase of impact and integration with CLASP. Prior to serving as CEO of Power for All, Alba was Deputy Managing Director at Mercy Corps, where she helped shape global strategy for Energy 4 Impact, the organization’s energy innovation platform. Earlier in her career, she led market development initiatives across Asia and Africa, designing interventions that strengthened energy access sector performance and unlocked investment in off-grid energy markets.
Alba describes on how the sector is shifting and how her new role at CLASP responds to these changes:
We’re at an inflection point for energy access. Most people without electricity now live near existing grid infrastructure, where demand is growing but traditional electrification approaches can’t serve them sustainably. There’s growing recognition that centering demand—treating efficient appliances and equipment as fundamental as supply infrastructure—is critical for utilities and the distributed renewable energy sector alike. CLASP’s decades of technical expertise and the trusted platform it has built uniquely position it to help the sector navigate this shift. I’m excited to work with the team and partners to advance demand-side solutions as central to the SDG7 agenda. —Alba Topulli
CLASP is delighted to welcome Alba to the team and, under her leadership, looks forward to strengthening the organization’s mission and advancing integrated approaches that position efficient appliances and equipment as essential to inclusive economic growth and climate action.
Global Distributors Collective Joins Effort to Bring Clean Energy and Appliances to More Homes and Businesses Worldwide
The Global Distributors Collective (GDC) is the newest member of the Energy Access Institutions Facility, an initiative led by CLASP to help more people gain access to reliable and affordable energy.
Extensive network and wider reach
For nearly a decade, GDC has worked with locally owned businesses (or ‘last mile distributors’), globally, to get efficient products like solar-powered lights, clean cookers, and water filters, to underserved homes and communities. By partnering with the Facility, GDC joins a group of like-minded institutions committed to delivering energy access across the continent.
GDC’s impact is significant. Its network includes 300 distributors across more than 60 countries, which collectively reach more than 60 million people with beneficial household products, including essential sustainable energy products. These distributors operate at the ‘last mile’; the elusive final stretch between services and the often rural, low-income or otherwise marginalized people trying to access those services.
Focused scope for meaningful impact
GDC’s unique selling point is its strong focus on small, locally owned businesses, many of which face a lot of challenges growing or attracting investment. The Collective helps by providing practical training, tools, and support to help these businesses strengthen their operations; making industry knowledge available and more readily accessible; and linking businesses to investment opportunities. Equally important, GDC amplifies the voices of those businesses in decision-making spaces at the global level, where they have traditionally lacked a seat at the table.
Last-mile distributors are vital to connecting the billions of people worldwide who still lack access to potentially transformational energy products. GDC’s partnership with the Facility will enable us to ramp up our work providing support and services that strengthen and grow these businesses—ultimately helping them to reach even more underserved customers.
Jessica Utichi
Head of the Global Distributors Collective
We’re excited to welcome GDC to the Facility. Their unique blend of local expertise and experience, as well as their perspective on last-mile energy access in different geographies, will help us create a more practical, people-centered approach to energy and appliance access, and strengthen our role in supporting those leading the way.
Emmanuel Aziebor
Senior Director Africa, CLASP
The Facility partners with institutions that strengthen off-grid energy markets and help companies succeed and deliver not just electricity, but the skills, tools, and appliances that allow families and businesses to benefit from it. With GDC on board, the coalition is even better positioned to reach more people with solutions that work.
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About the Energy Access Institutions Facility
The Energy Access Institutions Facility, or “The Facility,” is a joint donor initiative to support and strengthen the institutions that are essential for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 7, universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy by 2030. The Facility is supported by DOEN Foundation, British International Investment, Good Energies Foundation, the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), and the UK Government via the Transforming Energy Access (TEA) platform and is managed by CLASP.
This material has been funded by UK International Development from the UK Government; however, the views expressed do not necessarily reflect the UK Government’s official policies.
Reflections on the Productive Use Financing Facility
The Productive Use Financing Facility (the Financing Facility), an innovative program implemented by CLASP and supported by the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (the Alliance), makes energy-efficient appliances more affordable to consumers and businesses in emerging markets in Africa.
As the Financing Facility celebrates its first anniversary and concludes the initial phase of this expanded program, we look at the lives and communities it has already transformed and consider paths towards reaching our goals to help generate green jobs and equitable opportunities for thousands across Africa.
Empowering communities with the right tools
A single appliance has the potential to improve the quality of life for an entire household or community. Women entrepreneurs with access to an off-grid refrigerator can sell cold beverages, attracting customers and increasing their income. Solar-powered mills can provide a central flour-processing location for smallholder farmers in remote communities, allowing them to offer new products, reduce workloads, and avoid transportation costs.
Despite the potential of these technologies, many businesses and households that need them can’t afford them due to high costs and limited financing options. For the 750 million–plus people worldwide who live without access to electricity and the approximately 700 million living in extreme poverty, energy-efficient appliances are still out of reach.
The Financing Facility’s role in driving access and opportunity
The Financing Facility offers a solution: make these life-changing appliances more affordable to those who need them. By providing grants, subsidies, and technical assistance, the Financing Facility enables small businesses, entrepreneurs, and households to acquire energy-efficient appliances at lower prices.
The initiative’s two-year pilot project ran from 2022 to 2024, worked with 24 companies across six countries, deployed nearly 16,000 appliances, and directly improved the lives of over 58,000 households. In June 2025, the Financing Facility entered a second phase with the announcement of its expansion and a $6.1 million USD funding boost. During this phase, the initiative aims to create over 3,000 green jobs through the sale and use of over 10,000 appliances in four years.
One year on: expanding reach and impact
A new cohort of 11 appliance companies, announced in November 2025, remains focused on productive-use appliances (in other words, technologies people use to generate income) like grain mills, solar water pumps, walk-in cold rooms, and refrigerator/freezers. From this cohort alone, the Financing Facility aims to deploy over 2,000 appliances across Kenya to women-owned and -led businesses.
The second cohort selection, launching in February 2026, will be open to appliance companies in Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Kenya. CLASP will announce and detail the process via the Financing Facility web page, LinkedIn, and Bluesky.
Committed to the most underserved communities
While electrification is expanding globally, deliberate efforts must be made to ensure the sustainability and commercial viability of renewable energy infrastructure. Programs like the Financing Facility place appliances into people’s hands and homes, energizing ambition and output amongst local businesses and farms. Increased incomes from these activities drive economic growth, create jobs, and improve the quality of life, giving communities the tools to thrive. For example, Helen Obinna, a small business owner in Nigeria, has witnessed her business transform: her refrigerator can keep products cool despite inconsistent power, and sales of cold beverages have substantially increased.
About the Productive Use Financing Facility
The Financing Facility is an innovative program that provides grants, subsidies, and technical assistance to suppliers and distributors to lower appliance prices and reach more customers. This makes it easier for small businesses, entrepreneurs, and households to buy energy-efficient technologies, such as solar water pumps, mills, and refrigerators, at favorable prices.
This program is supported by the Global Alliance for People and Planet.
For more information, read the Productive Use Financing Facility 2.0 press release, contact financing@clasp.ngo, and follow us on LinkedIn for regular updates on how the Financing Facility is benefiting people and our planet.
About CLASP
CLASP is the leading global authority on efficient appliances’ role in fighting climate change and improving people’s lives. With 25 years of expertise and offices on four continents, CLASP collaborates with policymakers, industry leaders, and other experts to deliver clear pathways to a more sustainable world for people and the planet.
About the Global Alliance for People and Planet
The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet works for a world where everyone has access to affordable, reliable, clean electricity and the means to use it to improve their lives. Our Alliance builds transformative public, private, philanthropic partnerships to end energy poverty and accelerate green economic opportunity. Founded in 2021 by The Rockefeller Foundation, IKEA Foundation, and Bezos Earth Fund, we unlock finance, strengthen institutions and transform markets, delivering progress anchored in deep community engagement. By uniting actors across the value chain, from households to heads of state, we go beyond individual projects to drive lasting systems change. With work in more than 30 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, our Alliance aims to reach 1 billion people with clean electricity, prevent 4 billion tons of carbon emissions and create or improve 150 million jobs. For more information, please visit energyalliance.org.
Brazil Put a Spotlight on its Efficiency Agenda at COP30
In recent years, Brazil has taken initial steps toward a more sustainable future powered by energy efficiency. As the host of COP30, held in Belém in November, Brazil put a spotlight on this smart climate solution for the world to see.
The country is already a global leader in sustainable energy, generating 89% of its electricity with renewables. However, rapidly rising energy demand and decreased hydropower capacity are forcing policymakers and utilities to reevaluate the current energy mix.
Global warming and Brazil’s deep income inequality further complicate this challenge. For example, Brazil’s summers are growing hotter; in 2023, the country hit a new record temperature of 112.6° F (44.8° C). As a result, air conditioning, once considered a luxury, is becoming necessary for health and productivity. But today, air conditioning is found in only 20% of all homes, concentrated mainly in higher-income households.
The challenges lower-income Brazilians face in accessing energy services like air conditioning are reflected in the fact that almost half of the lowest-income Brazilians spend more than half of their household income on electricity and gas.
Air conditioners above a Rio de Janeiro street.
Credit: CLASP
Brazil’s solution for booming energy demand and high electric bills
Brazil’s leaders increasingly view efficiency as a cost-effective, climate-friendly tool for meeting the country’s energy needs while addressing economic barriers to energy access.
Analysis reveals that, in the absence of other interventions, meeting skyrocketing energy demand would require increasing domestic natural gas production by up to 300%. To avoid this, the government can embrace energy efficiency, making services like cooking and cooling less energy-intensive and therefore reducing overall energy demand.
Appliance efficiency has provided early wins in Brazil, although there are major opportunities to do more. New policies for air conditioners and LED lights are making the models available in Brazil more efficient. This, in turn, makes these appliances more affordable to operate—and therefore accessible to more people.
COP host puts efficiency on the podium
In conversations throughout COP30, the Brazilian government and media showcased energy efficiency as a key tool for meeting national and global climate targets, growing the country’s economy, and delivering accessible energy services for all.
Panelists from COP30 ABDI energy efficiency event.
In his speech to negotiators and delegates at the COP’s opening plenary session, Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin underscored the importance of meeting the COP29 pledge to double energy efficiency by 2030. “This COP must mark the beginning of a decade of acceleration and delivery—the moment when rhetoric gives way to concrete action, and when all parties move from setting targets to fulfilling them,” he said.
During a day dedicated to energy efficiency, the Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development (often referred to by its Portuguese acronym, ABDI) put together a packed agenda bringing together leaders from government, businesses, and international organizations to discuss how Brazil can achieve its goals through efficiency. During a session about the role of efficiency in the energy transition, speakers noted that a significant advantage of efficiency compared to other solutions is that technologies like efficient industrial equipment already exist and can be implemented immediately.
Another event organized by Casa Civil, the powerful organization run by Brazil’s presidential chief of staff, focused on the role of efficiency in achieving a just energy transition and expanding the Brazilian industry’s presence in the global marketplace. The event highlighted the fact that local appliance manufacturers can increase sales by making their products more efficient, which allows them to match international benchmarks and sell their products around the world.
Major Brazilian media outlets also jumped into the efficiency conversation at COP. Folha de São Paulo, the country’s largest newspaper, co-hosted a session with the Crux Alliance, a philanthropic organization focused on global climate policy, on leveraging demand-side strategies to deliver on renewable energy and efficiency targets.
Carving a sustainable path forward
With COP delegates from around the globe now back home, they have many opportunities to keep energy efficiency front of mind—and strong reasons for doing so.
“Efficiency lowers costs, expands access, and strengthens domestic industry,” said Edilaine Camillo, leader of CLASP’s Brazil program. “The more elements we add to this puzzle, the clearer it becomes how interconnected the energy transition is—and how it can positively impact multiple sectors of the economy and people’s everyday lives.”
Powering Progress: Three Local Appliance Companies Generate Job and Income Growth Across Africa
CLASP has selected 11 appliance companies to receive funding in support of job and income growth in sub-Saharan Africa. This support will be provided through the Productive Use Financing Facility (the Financing Facility), an initiative managed by CLASP and supported by the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (the Energy Alliance). The Financing Facility aims to accelerate the adoption of clean, energy-efficient appliances to power small businesses and support smallholder farmers, potentially transforming the lives of millions across Africa.
Baridi, Irri-hub, and Koolboks are three of the 11 impact-driven companies selected for the program whose work is already transforming the continent.
Solar appliances drive economic growth
For a smallholder farmer or business owner in sub-Saharan Africa, even a single appliance can go a long way. For example, a CLASP survey found that business owners in Uganda who purchased an off-grid refrigerator were able to increase their incomes twofold.
For women, an appliance can be a major driver of income. In the Finance Facility’s pilot program, households where women purchased an appliance saw incomes increase an average of 94%. From selling cold drinks using a refrigerator-freezer to growing high-value crops with a solar water pump, equitable access to reliable and affordable appliances can transform not only individual lives, but entire communities. Solar-powered appliances can reduce the physical strain attached to traditional working conditions, expand business opportunities, improve nutrition, and create local jobs.
Three African appliance companies making an impact
For Facility grantees like Baridi, Irri-hub, and Koolboks, this kind of transformative impact is what drives their work.
Baridi supplies solar-powered chilling technologies to smallholder farmers in Kenya, ensuring that their hard-earned produce remains fresh and market-ready.
Photo credit: Baridi
Photo credit: Baridi
Koolboks designs and distributes affordable solar-powered refrigerator-freezers, ensuring access for small businesses and farmers across the region. By providing reliable cold storage, Koolboks helps entrepreneurs expand product offerings and reduce the economic risks tied to spoilage.
Photo credit: Koolboks
Photo credit: Koolboks
Irri-hub is a provider of affordable water management solutions, including solar water pumps, that help smallholder farmers increase yields, improve crop predictability, and expand production.
Photo credit: Irri-hub
Photo credit: Irri-hub
Solar water pumps offer an enormous amount of income and job growth potential. CLASP’s report “Leave No One Behind: Bridging the Energy Access Gap with Innovative Off-Grid Solar Solutions” found that 87% of farmers in Rwanda who obtained a solar water pump reported an increase in their monthly incomes, while 64% reported hiring more laborers and growing more crops.
Enduring partnerships are the key to transforming lives and livelihoods
Both Baridi and Koolboks have longstanding partnerships with CLASP. Baridi was a finalist in the 2022 Global LEAP Awards Off-Grid Cold Chain Challenge, while Koolboks received funding from the first round of the Financing Facility.
This round of the Financing Facility is Irri-hub’s first partnership with CLASP.
From long and enduring partnerships to new collaborations, these kinds of local, on-the-ground partnerships are key to helping transform the sector, bringing life-changing appliances to the millions who need them. CLASP remains committed to strengthening these relationships and investing in partners who are creating green jobs and equitable opportunities across Africa.
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About the Productive Use Financing Facility
The Financing Facility is an innovative program that provides grants, subsidies, and technical assistance to suppliers and distributors, helping to lower appliance prices and expand customer bases. The Facility makes it easier for small businesses, entrepreneurs, and households to buy energy-efficient technologies, such as solar water pumps, mills, and refrigerators, at favorable prices.
This program is supported by the Global Alliance for People and Planet .
For more information, read the Productive Use Financing Facility 2.0 press release, contact financing@clasp.ngo, and follow us on LinkedIn for regular updates on how the facility is benefiting people and our planet.
About CLASP
CLASP is the leading global authority on efficient appliances’ role in fighting climate change and improving people’s lives. With 25 years of expertise and offices on four continents, CLASP collaborates with policymakers, industry leaders, and other experts to deliver clear pathways to a more sustainable world for people and the planet.
About the Global Alliance for People and Planet
The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet works for a world where everyone has access to affordable, reliable, clean electricity and the means to use it to improve their lives. Our Alliance builds transformative public, private, philanthropic partnerships to end energy poverty and accelerate green economic opportunity. Founded in 2021 by The Rockefeller Foundation, IKEA Foundation, and Bezos Earth Fund, we unlock finance, strengthen institutions, and transform markets, delivering progress anchored in deep community engagement. Our Alliance aims to reach 1 billion people with clean electricity, prevent 4 billion tons of carbon emissions, and create or improve 150 million jobs. For more information, please visit www.energyalliance.org and follow us on X at @EnergyAlliance.
Making the Switch: The Deployment Handbook for Institutional eCookers
This report, “Making the Switch: The Deployment Handbook for Institutional eCookers,” conducted by Efficiency for Access in partnership with the Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) programme, aims to inform practitioners seeking advice on the design, deployment, and operation of commercially available institutional eCooking technologies and provide actionable recommendations for scaling eCooking in institutions in Kenya. This guide covers commercially available institutional eCooking technologies designed for both on- and off-grid applications. It provides:
- An overview of the current state of eCooking in institutions in Kenya
- Step-by-step advice for the pre-assessment, planning, installation, and commissioning of eCooking solutions
- Opportunities to scale the adoption of institutional eCooking
Download “Making the Switch: The Deployment Handbook for Institutional eCookers” to access key findings, recommendations, and guidance on electric cookers in institutional settings.
About Efficiency for Access
Efficiency for Access is a global coalition dedicated to advancing access to energy and affordable, energy-efficient appliances in underserved communities. It is a catalyst for change, accelerating access to off- and weak-grid appliances that boost incomes, avoid carbon emissions, improve quality of life, and support sustainable development. The coalition is co-chaired by UK aid from the UK government via the Transforming Energy Access platform and the IKEA Foundation.
About the MECS programme
Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) is an eleven-year research programme funded by UK Aid (FCDO). MECS is a geographically diverse, multicultural, and transdisciplinary team working in close partnership with NGOs, governments, the private sector, academia, research institutes, policy representatives, and communities in 16 countries of interest to accelerate a transition from biomass to genuinely ‘clean’ cooking.
In seeking to spark a new approach to clean cooking, the MECS programme researches the socio-economic realities of a transition from polluting fuels to a range of modern fuels. Whilst the research covers several clean fuels, the evidence is pointing to the viability, cost-effectiveness, and user satisfaction that energy-efficient electric cooking devices provide. Significant progress has been made in access to electricity in the last decade, but these gains are sometimes disconnected from the enduring problem of clean cooking. By integrating modern energy cooking services into the planning for electricity access, quality, reliability and sustainability, MECS hopes to leverage investment in renewable energies (both grid and off-grid) to address the clean cooking challenge.