Humanitarian Clean Cooking Resource Hub

Clean cooking in humanitarian and displacement settings is a critical component of the global agendas on energy access, sustainable development and climate action. Yet today, the vast majority of refugees, internally displaced persons, and host communities rely on firewood and other polluting biomass fuels to cook their food. This contributes to a host of environmental problems, such as air pollution, desertification, and overexploitation of natural resources. Women and girls often face heightened risks of gender-based violence during firewood collection and increased incidences of respiratory illnesses from cooking over an open flame, among other challenges.

Many organizations and partners are working to bridge the gap in access to clean cooking solutions for people living in fragile and displacement settings, but progress remains difficult due to a range of persistent barriers:

• Market and infrastructure constraints: Displacement settings are often located in remote areas with poor connectivity and inadequate infrastructure, making delivery of energy and other basic services expensive and logistically complex.
• Legal and regulatory restrictions: Limitations on refugees’ freedom of movement, employment, and financial inclusion limit their ability to participate in energy markets as consumers, business owners, or employees.
• Perceptions of displacement as temporary: Refugee and internally displaced settlements are often viewed as temporary. While this assumption is often incorrect, it discourages investment in long-term infrastructure to support the delivery of clean cooking solutions.
• Inadequate funding models: Most clean cooking investments today prioritize cost-efficiency and scale. This results in the deprioritization of communities that are complex and costly to serve, including remote host and displaced settlements.

This page aims to consolidate knowledge and lessons learned from initiatives that aim to address these barriers and ensure lasting access to clean cooking in displacement settings. It seeks to foster collaboration among humanitarian, development, and private sector actors and promote a shared understanding of effective, context-appropriate solutions. By doing so, the page supports the development of best practices for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 7, which promotes access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all, including the world’s most vulnerable communities.

Clean Cooking Mapping Dashboard

The Clean Cooking Mapping Dashboard is an interactive database visualising and analysing clean cooking initiatives in humanitarian and displacement contexts globally starting in or after 2020. It is a practical resource intended to help policymakers, humanitarian and development organizations, donors, and researchers collaborate in order to optimise resource allocation and achieve the accelerated delivery of clean cooking solutions in humanitarian contexts.

Key features of the dashboard include:

• Project details: Users can access information on project objectives, activities, implementing organisations, target populations, funding sources, and project status, facilitating knowledge sharing and collaboration.  

• Geospatial visualisation: Maps display the locations of the projects, allowing users to assess regional coverage and identify areas in need of intervention.  

• Solutions insights: The dashboard categorizes projects based on the deployed clean cooking technologies, such as LPG, electric stoves, or improved biomass cookstoves, paired with target business and delivery models for the clean cooking products or services.  

This database is maintained and continually updated by the Global Platform for Action (GPA) on Sustainable Energy in Displacement Settings. To provide feedback on the dashboard, make inquiries or share information about new projects, please contact (energy@unitar.org) and (iwona.bisaga@unitar.org).

Clean Cooking Knowledge Resources

The below resources aim to provide practical insights to support all stakeholders working on clean cooking in humanitarian settings understand key challenges, practical solutions under exploration, and lessons learned during project implementation. Share resources you think should be included by contacting (energy@unitar.org).