Clean Cooking helps to improve the lives of families in Africa and reduce the use of non-renewable biomass for cooking.
In 2018 we launched our Clean Cooking Program, which promotes access to higher efficiency cooking systems in sub-Saharan Africa. Compared to traditional methods like the three-stone hearth, these improved stoves ensure reduced wood and charcoal use, significantly cutting the carbon footprint linked to cooking and enhancing the quality-of-life of the families involved. Indeed, using improved stoves offers health benefits, boosts productivity, promotes gender equality, safeguards forests and biodiversity, and cuts GHG emissions. Clean Cooking is a cornerstone of our pledge to enhance living standards in sub-Saharan Africa. For this reason, we have signed the "Clean Cooking Declaration: Making 2024 the Key Year for Clean Cooking”, an initiative led by the International Energy Agency (IEA), which aims to speed up the global adoption of advanced cooking solutions. This is a vital step in guaranteeing access to affordable, dependable, sustainable and modern energy for everyone, in line with United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7.
Currently, nearly 2 billion people, 1 billion of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa¹, cook using rudimentary and inefficient methods. Our aim is to reduce the use of unsustainable fuels across the continent, where meals are cooked over open fires or on rudimentary stoves, exposing people to harmful fumes from the combustion of charcoal, wood charcoal and other products and materials linked to unsustainable supply chains. As well as improving access to energy, clean cooking projects help to reduce the consumption of charcoal and firewood, which are among the main drivers of deforestation in many African countries. Furthermore, the local production and distribution of these improved cookstoves, in collaboration with national and international organisations already operating in the region, foster entrepreneurship and strengthen local economies. In addition, we intend to encourage the transition from improved cookstoves to advanced solutions capable of completely eliminating the use of unsustainable woody biomass.
(1) International Energy Agency (IEA) data.
The project fully integrates a gender perspective, recognising that women frequently handle meal preparation and spend a significant portion of their day not just on cooking but also on gathering fuel. The improved stoves, compared to traditional methods, nearly halve the use of woody biomass for the same results. In addition to reducing the time women spend gathering fuel and the costs families face when buying it, efficiency also means shorter cooking times, freeing up time for other activities. Lastly, there are additional health benefits, as the new stoves emit less smoke.
In 2025, around 2.2 million people were reached in sub-Saharan Africa, bringing the total to around 4.7 million since the program began. Around 440,000 improved cookstoves were distributed in Côte d’Ivoire, Mozambique, the Republic of the Congo, Angola, Tanzania, Rwanda and Madagascar.
In Ivory Coast , the distribution of improved cookstoves began in 2022, reaching, as of 31 May 2026, more than 1 million people in 2,000 villages across four regions of the country. The improved cookstoves are manufactured entirely in Ivory Coast by a local company, supported by Eni in improving and scaling up production. The aim is to reach around 3.4 million people over a nine-year period (2022–2030) and to generate around 3 million carbon credits over the course of the project, thereby helping to offset the Scope 1 and 2 emissions envisaged by the Baleine project.
In Mozambique, through the ‘Promoting Energy Efficiency and Clean Cooking’ project, which began in 2018 in the Cabo Delgado region, Eni has helped to distribute improved cookstoves to 100,000 people. In 2023, two Clean Cooking projects were launched on the outskirts of the capital, Maputo, and in two central provinces of the country, Sofala and Manica, reaching more than 1 million people by 31 May 2026. The aim is to reach around 4 million people by 2030. 100 per cent of the improved stoves are produced locally in Maputo by the ‘"Instituto Superior Dom Bosco (ISDB)" in collaboration with Eni, which has supported the technological development through the "Eni for Clean Cooking" programme. The result is the first bi-fuel (charcoal and wood) stove produced in sub-Saharan Africa with a thermal efficiency of over 40 per cent (Tier 4), certified by the "Biomass Energy Certification & Testing Centre".
In the Republic of the Congo, Clean Cooking projects were launched in the cities of Pointe-Noir and Brazzaville in 2023, involving over 750,000 people. The programme aims to support local small and medium-sized enterprises that have already been identified and are operating in the two cities; these businesses will be helped to rapidly reach the necessary standards in terms of both quality and quantity, with the aim of making local production self-sufficient.
In Angola, two Clean Cooking projects were launched in six provinces (Luanda, Benguela, Huambo, Cuanza, Uige and Bengo) in 2024, reaching over 1 million people. The aim is to reach around 3.5 million people across nine provinces in the country. What makes the Clean Cooking projects particularly effective is their integrated approach. Together with its partners, Eni is investing in local capacity-building, education and community wellbeing through training programmes, scholarships and awareness-raising activities on nutrition and hygiene for millions of people. Furthermore, 100 per cent of the improved stoves are produced locally by the Instituto Superior Dom Bosco in collaboration with Eni, which has supported the technological development.
In Rwanda, Clean Cooking projects have been launched in three districts of the Eastern Province of Rwanda (Nyagatare, Gatsibo and Kayonza), reaching around 300,000 people. The aim is to reach 700,000 people by providing the most vulnerable communities in rural areas with access to improved cooking systems.
In Tanzania, Eni has developed the ‘Green Tanzania Cookstove Programme’, through which it has already reached over 350,000 people. The aim is to provide 1.75 million people with access to clean cooking systems. The improved cookstoves are manufactured locally by the two Tanzanian companies ‘"Envotec" and "Tango".
In Madagascar, the Clean Cooking programme aims to reach over 1 million people. To date, Eni has already provided access to Clean Cooking for over 100,000 people. The improved stoves are manufactured locally by the Madagascan company "Angovo Maharitra" and, from 2026, also by "Madastove", a new production facility that will ensure greater production capacity and enable the set targets to be met.
In line with the IEA scenarios and to ensure a fair energy transition, the Eni for Clean Cooking Program supports a gradual shift to “advanced” systems, including distributing induction stoves in cities and pyrolysis stoves in the countryside. These stoves encourage the circular economy by using agricultural waste, such as by-products from Eni's agri-feedstock supply chain.
An improved stove produced in Mozambique
Distribution of improved stoves in Mozambique
Distribution of improved stoves in Mozambique
Manufacturing of improved stoves in Mozambique
An improved stove produced
Distribution of improved stoves
Distribution of improved stoves
Manufacturing of improved stoves
More widespread use of better cooking systems in the most vulnerable communities can play a major role in tackling deforestation.
We contribute to improving the quality of life of the households involved in the initiative and support local businesses.
Eni launches the Clean Cooking Program in Angola, distributing locally-produced improved cookstoves to families.
A first phase of the project was launched in the district of Nyagatare in December 2024, where more than 66,000 people have already been reached.
In 2025, Eni began distributing “advanced” cookstoves, such as induction cookers for urban areas, or pyrolytic and gasification cookstoves for rural areas, which promote the use of agricultural waste, including by-products from Eni’s agrifeedstock supply chain. This development will help to further combat deforestation by gradually phasing out the use of non-renewable biomass, with a significant impact on deforestation and people’s health. In this regard, feasibility studies have already been launched for projects involving induction cookers and pyrolytic cookers in Mozambique, the Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, the Ivory Coast, Zambia, Cameroon and Ghana.
Eni’s Clean Cooking Program forms part of a broader global context. Sustainable Development Goal 7 of the United Nations 2030 Agenda (SDG 7) aims to “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” and, within this framework, the International Energy Agency (IEA) emphasises the importance of clean cooking initiatives. The World Health Organisation estimates that 2.9 million premature deaths occur each year due to household air pollution¹. It is also internationally recognised that clean cooking projects deliver significant health benefits to households, particularly for women and children, as reducing harmful smoke emissions in the home helps to lower the incidence of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. In May 2024, Eni signed the Clean Cooking Declaration: Making 2024 the pivotal year for Clean Cooking during the Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa organised by the International Energy Agency (IEA). At UNESCO headquarters in Paris, Heads of State and Government, alongside business leaders and representatives of international institutions and civil society from around the world, gathered to draw attention to the issue, sharing the needs and initiatives already underway in Africa, with the aim of implementing all necessary measures to support these efforts and establishing 2024 as a crucial year for accelerating universal access to clean cooking.
Download document
