Uganda targets universal clean cooking access by 2030

Uganda’s Energy Transition Plan (ETP) aims to provide universal access to cleaner cooking by 2030 as part of the country’s commitment to achieve a 20% reduction compared to baseline emissions by that date.

Carbon markets and the generation of carbon credits are likely to play a key role in financing the expansion, the plan indicates.

Clean cooking access rates remain low at around 15% despite recent progress driven by strong government programmes, according to the newly-released ETP, a strategic roadmap for the development and modernisation of Uganda’s energy sector.

“Universal access to clean cooking in Uganda can avoid around 50,000 premature deaths from indoor air pollution per year by 2030, and save households two hours per day in collecting firewood – with the greatest benefits accruing to women and children,” the report says.

It also reduces the country’s net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by up to 17 million tonnes CO2-equivalent (tCO2e) by 2030, “with potential to fund multiple projects via carbon credits,” it adds.

The country emitted roughly 115 million tCO2e of GHGs in 2021, with the energy sector currently accounting for about 15% of the total, and the majority coming from the agriculture, forestry and other land-use (AFOLU) and waste sectors.

Energy-sector methane and nitrous oxide emissions are largely associated with traditional use of biomass for cooking, and have risen alongside the growth in households without access to clean cooking to 13 million tCO2e in 2021.

Clean cooking “transforms the composition of energy demand in the residential sector” in that the adoption of cleaner stoves and fuels eliminates the use of traditional biomass, typically in the form of wood or charcoal, the report notes.

To reach the ETP goals, “clean cooking progress needs to drastically accelerate, with investments sharply increasing,” the report says, adding that achieving clean cooking will avoid around 7 million tCO2e each year by 2030 on a net basis, which excludes deforestation and black carbon emissions.

If the unsustainable solid biomass harvesting is accounted for, this rises to 17 million tCO2e.

“Climate finance, and especially carbon markets which are already funding clean cooking projects, also play a key role in the ETP scenario. However, clear and reliable national regulations mirroring international standards will be fundamental for clean cooking companies to access this finance,” the report says.

Around 6.5% of the country’s population would need to gain access each year to modern cooking fuels and stoves to achieve the ETP goal by 2030.

“This rate of improvement is unprecedented in the African continent, but a similar level was reached in Indonesia during the last decade through the deployment of LPG programmes combined with end-use incentives,” the plan says.

The success in Indonesia was also driven by strong policy and public funding heavily incentivising LPG, which attracted significant private and state-backed capital.

“Replicating the same acceleration model in Uganda would require a high share of international development and climate financing, as well as regional co-ordination to develop the fuel delivery infrastructure, supply chains and a strong local distribution capacity,” the plan says.

“However, maintaining this rate of improvements over a long period, especially when relying on steep incentives, will be challenging and too demanding on the government budget,” it notes.

“This is why the ETP relies on a diversified portfolio of modern cooking solutions such as e-cooking, biogas and bioethanol.”

Uganda's government said in July it would will set up a dedicated unit to develop and manage key functions that are required for project-based carbon trading in the country, including a registry that will be a key requirement to trade credits through the Paris Agreement's Article 6.

The country is one of main destinations for carbon credit project developers in East Africa, primarily for nature-based and cookstoves projects, but some human rights activists have raised concerns following the enactment of an anti-homosexuality act earlier this year.

Source from Quantum Commodity Intelligence

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