Kenya Targets 2028 to Move Millions Away from Firewood and Charcoal

Kenya is pressing ahead with plans to shift millions of households away from dirty cooking fuels before the end of the decade, with Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi reaffirming the government's 2028 target. He made the pledge during the opening of a respiratory medical camp held at Kenya Medical Training College in Siaya.

The scale of the challenge is significant. Across the country, an estimated 9.1 million households continue to rely on firewood and charcoal for their daily cooking needs — 7.4 million of those in rural areas and 1.7 million in urban centres. Despite years of awareness campaigns, traditional biomass fuels remain the default choice for the majority of Kenyan families.

The health consequences of this dependence fall hardest on women, children, and the elderly, who spend the most time indoors around open fires. Household air pollution from burning solid fuels is linked to a range of serious respiratory illnesses, a reality that gave particular weight to the CS's remarks at the medical camp in Siaya.

The government's response is anchored in the Kenya National Clean Cooking Transition Strategy, which promotes a basket of affordable alternatives tailored to different community needs. These include liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), electric cooking, bioethanol, biogas, and improved cookstoves that burn fuel more efficiently. Rather than pushing a one-size-fits-all solution, the strategy recognises that what works in Nairobi may not suit a household in Turkana or Kisii.

Three pillars underpin the transition plan. First, the government aims to expand the reach and reduce the cost of clean cooking technologies so that financial barriers no longer keep families locked into using firewood. Second, there is a deliberate focus on building a local manufacturing industry around clean fuels and stoves, with the expectation that this will generate jobs and broaden Kenya's economic base. Third, a nationwide public education drive will make the case for cleaner cooking on health, environmental, and economic grounds.

Coordinating this effort at the county level is central to the government's approach. Under the Integrated National Energy Plan (2023–2043), county governments are being empowered to design and implement solutions that fit their specific local contexts, ensuring communities have a say in the kind of clean cooking technologies they adopt.

With less than three years until the 2028 deadline, the pressure is on to move from strategy to action. For the millions of Kenyan families still breathing smoky air in their own kitchens, the pace of delivery will matter as much as the ambition of the plan.