In India, over 789 million people – nearly 60 percent of the population – depend on polluting, open fires or inefficient stoves to cook their food. Cooking this way can increase exposure to household air pollution, increasing the risks of contracting a range of diseases including childhood pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, ischemic heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer. In India alone, nearly half a million deaths each year can be attributed to household air pollution from cooking and heating. Women and girls, who often spend hours cooking and collecting fuels, are disproportionately affected. 

Reliance on wood and charcoal for cooking and heating also contributes to environmental degradation. About 23 percent of woodfuel harvested in India is unsustainable. In addition, burning fuels like wood, charcoal, coal, and kerosene contributes to climate change through emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, and short-lived climate pollutants like black carbon.

India is home to some of the world’s most polluted cities, and Alliance-funded research shows that household air pollution from cooking and heating is a major contributor, responsible for up to 25 percent of outdoor air pollution.

Clean Cooking Can Help

The use of cleaner, more modern stoves and fuels can dramatically reduce exposure to toxic smoke, lowering the associated risk factors for disease. Clean cooking can also help reduce forest degradation, address climate change, and cut down on the time that families - usually women and girls - spend cooking and collecting fuels, freeing up time for income-generating activities or schoolwork.

Progress

Over the past five years, India has seen unprecedented progress in scaling up clean cooking, including connecting over 60 million households to Liquified Petroleum Gas under the Prime Minister’s initiative Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana.

Alliance efforts to support clean cooking in India include:   

• Supporting a behavior change campaign in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat
• Engaging with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in collaboration with UNICEF and WHO, to develop a strategy for including clean cooking as part of India’s integrated Action Plan for Prevention of Pneumonia and Diarrhea
• Forming strategic partnerships with Tata Trusts, the Indian Council for Medical Research, the Energy and Resources Institute, SEWA, Indian corporations, and others, as part of the overall approach in India
• Awarding a grant to Greenway Appliances through the Spark program, which the company used to set up a full-fledged factory; Greenway has since become the India's largest stove manufacturer