Combating climate change could make modern, safer stoves unaffordable for many

Climate mitigation efforts in developing nations will conflict with efforts to increase the use of clean-burning stoves for cooking in the home, a new study warns. That is because climate policies will raise the cost of the propane and other petroleum products that fuel the stoves. Such stoves are necessary, however, to reduce or eliminate those that burn solid fuels, such as wood, coal, dung, and crop residues. In addition to their higher CO₂ emissions, solid-fuel stoves emit considerable pollution, which causes millions of premature deaths each year—1.7 million deaths in South Asia alone.

Although ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy sources for all by 2030 is one of 17 goals of the United Nations initiative on sustainable development , a competing goal is for urgent action to curtail climate change. Policies—for example, a carbon tax—that discourage the use of fossil fuels will also raise the cost of the cleaner fuels.

The study , by Shonali Pachauri and colleagues at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), was published in the inaugural January 2016 issue of Nature Energy.

Worldwide, 3 billion people use solid fuels for cooking. Their use, especially indoors, is a major health hazard. The IIASA study focused on South Asia, where an estimated 72% of the population still relies on solid fuels for cooking. It showed that on the current trajectory, by 2030 that number could be reduced to 35% of the population, or 727 million people. But without subsidies to make the cleaner stoves and fuels affordable, the study indicated, an additional 336 million people who otherwise would have switched to modern fuels will be unable to convert from the polluting solid fuels.

On 18 January in the United Arab Emirates, UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon told the World Future Energy Summit that clean, sustainable energy not only will help keep world temperature rise below the consensus 2 °C goal, but will also directly save 4.3 million lives every year. That is the estimated number of people who die prematurely from pollution by indoor solid-fuel stoves.

“Most of these people are women and children, who spend their time near wood-burning stoves and open flames. It is women and girls who bear the brunt of collecting firewood and fuels—time-consuming activities which limit their work and education opportunities,” the UN chief said.

The impact on the climate of switching from solid to clean fuels is likely to be negligible, the IIASA study says. But researchers found that as the carbon price increased, the increase in the detrimental effect on energy access was disproportionate to the beneficial effect for the climate, said Colin Cameron, a coauthor of the paper.

The cost of providing universal access to clean-fuel stoves could be included in the financial aid that developed nations have pledged to provide to the developing world to offset the costs of climate mitigation and adaptation, the analysis said.

The most efficient subsidies, researchers found, are those that focus on supporting both stove purchases and fuel bills. “For many people, the initial investment in a stove is just too big,” Pachauri said. “Getting over that hurdle may be the push many people need to make the switch to clean-burning fuels.”