Leaders rally behind action on clean cooking in Africa ahead of 2027 Summit
28.09.2026
The event at the UN Headquarters in New York last week was opened and chaired by our Executive Director Fatih Birol, with keynote addresses by President William Ruto of Kenya and by Norway’s Minister of International Development Åsmund Aukrust, participating on behalf of Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. Speakers included US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, World Bank President Ajay Bangaand UN Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed. Closing remarks were delivered by Dymphna van der Lans, the CEO of the Clean Cooking Alliance, a multilateral initiative now hosted by the IEA.
Participants underlined that clean cooking remains one of the world's most pressing energy, health and development challenges. Nearly 2 billion people still lack access to clean cooking globally, contributing to an estimated 2.5 million premature deaths each year from household air pollution. To mobilise further investment and policy action, we and our partners hosted our first Summit in 2024 in Paris, which mobilised more than $2.2 billion in new financial commitments – about a third of which has since been deployed.
Discussions in New York focused on concrete steps to keep clean cooking high on the international agenda and to raise fresh financial commitments ahead of our second Summit, to be held in Nairobi on 27-28 January 2027. The Summit will be co-chaired by Kenya, Norway, the United States and the IEA, with the support of the African Union and the African Development Bank Group.
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