Africa’s efforts to expand access to clean cooking may be undermined by inadequate investment in fuel supply infrastructure and a heavy reliance on debt to finance energy transition, industry stakeholders have warned.

The concerns come as about 970 million people in sub-Saharan Africa lack access to clean cooking, while approximately 80 per cent of international public clean energy finance to developing countries in 2024 was provided as debt, against just five per cent in the form of guarantees.

The figures, presented in a briefing for the 25th WPC Energy Congress in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, highlight the financing and infrastructure challenges confronting African countries seeking to expand access to cleaner energy while keeping it affordable for households and businesses.

The Executive Secretary of the African Refiners and Distributors Association (ARDA), Anibor Kragha, at the conference advocated for greater investment in fuel logistics, including import terminals, storage depots and bottling plants, as a way to improve supply reliability and accelerate the transition to cleaner cooking.

Speaking at a strategic session on universal energy access, Kragha stressed the need for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder recirculation as a scalable model for reaching households, while identifying inadequate midstream infrastructure as a major constraint.

The model allows marketers to own, maintain and refill branded cylinders, which households exchange at retail outlets rather than travelling to depots. Smaller cylinders of between three and six kilogrammes, alongside pay-as-you-go arrangements, can make LPG more accessible to households with limited disposable income.

However, without sufficient storage and distribution infrastructure, supply disruptions and price spikes could force households to return to charcoal and other polluting fuels.

Kragha warned that households were more likely to adopt and sustain clean cooking when fuel was consistently available at prices they could plan for. It argued that investments in shared import, storage and bottling facilities along regional trade corridors could reduce supply disruptions and landed costs.