By Jemosop Faith, Faith specializes in energy, climate, and renewables, transforming complex policy discussions into accessible, everyday conversations, she is a writer at Africa Digest News backed by 2+ years of focused experience
Successive government agencies and their partners in Ghana have long strived to promote clean cooking, aiming to eliminate the detrimental use of firewood and charcoal.
The absence of a cohesive national policy has hindered these efforts. Now, the Energy and Green Transition Ministry, with support from the World Bank, has initiated a crucial three-fold stakeholder engagement across the coastal, middle, and northern belts of Ghana to formulate a comprehensive national clean cooking policy.
The urgency of this initiative was underscored at the launch of the framework workshop in Ara, where Dr. Sheila Ado, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), highlighted the alarming consequences of relying on firewood and charcoal.
She revealed troubling statistics regarding the health implications, including significant mortality rates. “The lack of access to clean cooking fuels, as we all know, has brought us a lot of challenges, including respiratory health challenges as well as environmental challenges,” Dr. Ado stated.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that 3.7 million deaths occur annually due to the use of unclean cooking methods, with women and children being particularly vulnerable. In Ghana alone, it is projected that approximately 17,000 lives are lost each year, including 2,000 children.
The sector minister, John Ginapo, addressed the concerning trend of households reverting from Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to charcoal and firewood. He explained that the sharp increase in LPG prices between 2021 and 2022, exceeding 80%, led to a 12% decline in LPG consumption and a corresponding surge in wood fuel usage.
“It’s not just an economic burden; it’s also a health issue, and it’s also an environmental issue,” Minister Ginapo emphasized.
To counter this trend, the government has set an ambitious target: to achieve 50% household usage of clean cooking fuels, particularly LPG, by 2030.
Minister Ginapo acknowledged the ongoing efforts of the NPA to expand the cylinder recirculation model, calling for collective support. He also outlined the long-term strategy to ensure stable and affordable LPG supply, despite fluctuating fuel prices.
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“I’m aware that Ghana Gas supplies about 30% of our LPG consumption. Cabinet has approved the construction of a second gas processing plant to process indigenous gas, and we hope that when we complete that gas processing plant, it will elevate domestic consumption to about 70 to 80%, and ultimately, we should be able to hit 100% when it comes to domestic gas consumption,” he stated.
