Clean cooking for all: Tanzania’s path to better health and a greener future

Dar es Salaam. The use of unsafe cooking energy sources, particularly firewood and charcoal, causes serious health, social, economic, and environmental harm.

Tanzania and the global community have set strategies to address this by reducing or completely eliminating the current and future use of such unsafe energy sources.

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal No. 7 (SDG 7) seeks to ensure universal access to sufficient, safe, affordable, and environmentally friendly energy, especially through renewable sources such as solar, wind, and hydro power.

These goals (17 in total), established in 2015 by the UN General Assembly and ratified by member states including Tanzania, are targeted for achievement by the year 2030. Clean energy, including clean cooking energy, is not the only relevant goal—it is also linked to SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), and SDG 13 (Climate Action).

It also aligns with the implementation of the country’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to combat climate change under the Paris Agreement, in accordance with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Domestically, Tanzania has made various efforts to achieve this. For example, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) through its High Frequency Data reports, in 2015, clean energy sources contributed only 37 percent of the electricity mix. By March 2025, clean energy sources accounted for nearly 70 percent of electricity generation.

Clean cooking energy

Energy is not only about electricity but also other uses, such as cooking. In this regard, Tanzania has taken significant steps, even emerging as a leader in the adoption of modern energy in Africa.

In December 2023, at the global climate change conference (COP28) held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), President Samia Suluhu Hassan chaired a meeting of African Heads of State on clean cooking energy. The meeting also saw the launch of the African Women Clean Cooking Support Programme (AWCCSP).

At the national level, in May 2024, the President launched the National Clean Cooking Energy Strategy (2024–2034), aimed at ensuring that by 2034, at least 80 percent of Tanzanians will be using clean cooking energy.

This strategy was informed by the 2022 National Cooking Energy Implementation Plan, which revealed that approximately 82 percent of the country’s primary energy supply came from biomass sources (firewood, charcoal, etc.). It also estimated that for cooking alone, nearly 90 percent of households relied on firewood and charcoal—firewood accounting for 63.5 percent and charcoal for 26.2 percent.

The impact

According to the strategy, the use of dirty cooking fuels, especially firewood and charcoal has severe effects on health, the environment, the economy, education, and social life.

In health, smoke from these fuels contains toxic gases and fine particles that can damage the respiratory system, causing chronic illnesses such as coughing, pneumonia, tuberculosis, asthma, and lung cancer.

These toxins can also lead to pregnancy complications, premature births, and infants born with health problems. Other smoke-related diseases include heart disease, eye problems, high blood pressure, and paralysis.

Children under five and women who spend long hours in the kitchen are the most affected. Many also suffer from back, head, and leg injuries due to carrying firewood on their heads or backs. Around 33,000 people die every year in Tanzania from respiratory illnesses caused by indoor air pollution.

The harvesting of firewood and charcoal production causes extensive deforestation hence environmental damage. Each year, about 469,420 hectares of forest are destroyed, driving drought and disrupting ecosystems. This has contributed to approximately 16 percent of the country’s land being at risk of desertification.

This further affects our social live. The task of collecting firewood often falls to women and children, forcing them to travel long distances and exposing them to risks such as gender-based violence, rape, wild animal attacks, or domestic abuse for returning home late. This also reduces their participation in social and political activities.

Collecting firewood takes an average of six hours a day time that could be used for income-generating activities, education, or self-employment. Hence it affects the environment.

Education is not left behind as women and children lose learning opportunities due to time spent collecting firewood, which in turn limits their educational and economic progress.

What is being done and why MCL is involved

The strategy clearly states that achieving widespread adoption of clean cooking energy requires collaboration among stakeholders.

The private sector has a responsibility to work with the government to ensure reliable and sustainable access to clean cooking energy, raise awareness, and promote public understanding.

At Mwananchi Communications Limited (MCL), under our slogan “Building Together”, we are committed to providing education, developing, and implementing programs to help low-income household’s access clean cooking solutions. We also work with the government to identify policies, laws, regulations, and guidelines that hinder progress in this area.

We further aim to ensure that clean cooking energy distribution networks, equipment, and stoves reach all corners of the country, while creating employment opportunities in the clean cooking energy sector.

In early September 2025, MCL will host the Clean Cooking Energy Forum under the theme “Clean Cooking: Saving Lives and the Environment”. This event will bring together stakeholders to discuss, exchange experiences, and advance the clean cooking energy agenda in Tanzania.

Ahead of this, on the evening of August 11, 2025, we will hold an online discussion (Mwananchi Space) on X (formerly Twitter) under the topic “What Needs to Be Done for Tanzanians to Use Clean Cooking Energy to Protect Their Health and the Environment.”

This platform will explore innovation, policy, and the people driving the clean energy transformation—and why change must happen now.

We will also continue publishing special features before, during, and after the forum through videos, photos, and stories from across Tanzania, shared via our newspapers and online platforms.

We will examine issues of health, environment, gender equality, youth innovation, policy, law, and regulation, and discuss solutions that can transform the lives of every Tanzanian.

This report is sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

If you have any comments about this story, send us a message on WhatsApp: 0765864917.