WHO household energy policy repository: a compilation of policies promoting access to clean energy for household cooking, heating and lighting
Overview
The negative health, environmental and social consequences of cooking, heating and lighting with polluting fuels such as fuelwood, charcoal, dung, coal and kerosene are well documented. To address these burdens, interventions to encourage a transition to clean fuels are being implemented by governments globally. Despite these efforts, progress towards ensuring access to modern cooking, heating and lighting solutions - key components to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) - has been slow and uneven. Nearly 3 billion people still lack access to clean, efficient, convenient, safe, reliable and affordable cooking energy, and, in some parts of the world, the absolute number of people without access to clean cooking energy is increasing. If policies to address energy access in low-income countries are not implemented or expanded, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, we are unlikely to see a reduction in the use of polluting fuels for cooking, heating and lighting.
To hasten the transition to clean household energy, it is critical to understand what policies work, why they work and in which circumstances they work. WHO created a Clean Household Energy Solutions Toolkit (CHEST) to support practitioners and policymakers in developing and evaluating policies that promote clean household energy use. As part of CHEST, WHO, in partnership with the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), developed the Household Energy Policy Repository (“the Repository”), containing clean household energy policies that have been implemented globally since 2010, and, where available, evidence of their effectiveness. The Repository is intended to act as a knowledge base that can support transitions to cleaner household fuels. This Repository is part of the CHEST Module 2 on “Identification of Technological and Policy Interventions”.
This report describes in detail the methods used to develop the Repository, as well as an analysis of the policies included in terms of policy type, desired outcomes and the implementing agencies involved. Most policies currently in the Repository focus on cooking. This was intentional, because cooking with polluting fuels results in a larger disease burden than other household energy end-uses. That said, policies focusing on transitions to cleaner household heating and lighting are also well represented in the Repository.
