Nearly 2.9 billion people still use polluting fuels like wood and coal to cook and heat their homes, at a huge cost to the society, in terms of health, environmental and economic costs, estimated at over US$123 billion every year according to this World Bank report. It provides a comprehensive picture of the current state of the global clean cooking sector and underlines urgent need to accelerate adoption of clean and efficient cooking solutions to reach sustainable energy goals by 2030.

Women spend approximately 374 hours every year collecting firewood in India finds this new study released by Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. It focuses on the gender impacts of clean cooking solutions in households as well as women's involvement in improved cookstoves markets, in India, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Decentralised energy technologies have a vital role in extending electricity to around 80 million households lacking access to grid electricity and meet cooking energy needs of 49 % of the population which is still dependent on biomass fuels for cooking (Census 2011).