Govt steps up shift from traditional fuels to clean cooking by 2028

Millions of Kenyan families wake up every morning and light a fire to cook. For many, firewood or charcoal is all they have ever known. But that reality is set to change. Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi has thrown the government's weight behind a national push to move households away from smoky traditional fuels and into cleaner, safer cooking by 2028 — a goal he underscored at a respiratory medical camp where the human cost of indoor smoke was on full display.

The scale of the challenge is significant. About 9.1 million Kenyan households still depend on firewood, charcoal, or similar fuels for their daily cooking needs. Of those, 7.4 million are in rural areas where alternatives are harder to access, while 1.7 million urban households — despite living in cities with better infrastructure — have not yet made the switch. Prolonged exposure to the smoke these fuels produce has been directly linked to respiratory illnesses, particularly affecting women and young children who spend the most time near cooking fires.

The Kenya National Clean Cooking Transition Strategy lays out the path forward. Rather than pushing a single solution, the plan embraces a range of affordable options tailored to different households: liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), electric cooking, bioethanol, biogas, and improved cookstoves that burn fuel far more efficiently than open fires. The government has identified two main bottlenecks holding adoption back — limited availability of the technologies themselves and the cost barrier that puts many of them out of reach for ordinary families. Addressing both simultaneously is central to the strategy.

Beyond health, the initiative carries a strong economic argument. The government is actively encouraging local manufacturing of clean cooking technologies and fuels, which would keep money circulating within Kenya's economy, create jobs, and reduce dependence on imported products. A nationally rooted clean cooking industry could benefit fabricators, fuel suppliers, and distributors across the country, turning an environmental programme into a driver of livelihoods.

County governments are also being brought into the picture. Through the Integrated National Energy Plan, clean cooking has been placed at the centre of both national and devolved energy planning, giving counties the mandate and the tools to design solutions that fit their specific communities. A matatu operator's family in Nakuru has different needs from a pastoralist household in Marsabit, and the framework is designed to accommodate that variety. Public awareness campaigns will run alongside these structural changes, helping households understand not just the health case for switching, but the financial and environmental benefits as well — making clean cooking a choice that makes sense on every level.