The UAE and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) have launched a new joint initiative that aims to provide people in communities in low-resource settings worldwide with access to sustainable energy for cooking, official sources have said.
The initiative, called Beyond Food, was launched in collaboration with the Nama Women Advancement Establishment, said the sources.
The UAE and IRENA will reportedly foster cooperation and coordinated action to promote the deployment of clean cooking solutions across the world.
The partnership apparently aims to expand and bring in more key actors working on this issue in the coming days.
IRENA Director-General Francesco La Camera said: “Ensuring universal access to affordable modern energy for cooking is a major global challenge with current efforts lagging far behind the targets set forth in the global agenda for sustainable development by 2030.”
He added: “This partnership seeks to advance the financing needed to bolster the deployment of clean cooking solutions while putting the issue at the forefront of the global development agenda in this critical decade of action.”
Delivering remarks at the launch event, the UAE’s Permanent Representative to IRENA, Nawal Al-Hosany, said: “It is alarming that globally nearly one out of every three people today still lack the resources or the infrastructure for a clean cooking environment, relying on cooking fuels like charcoal, wood, and kerosene.”
She wen on to explain: “The consequences of this are two-fold: Firstly, it creates and perpetuates unhealthy living environments, and secondly it actually increases harmful carbon emissions.”
Al-Hosany added that finding innovative ways to help people benefit from cleaner food systems, agriculture and livelihoods is essential to ensuring long-term sustainable human development.
“And I’m delighted to see that, with the launch of the Beyond Food initiative, the UAE is working with its international partners to do exactly that.”
Innovative solutions for electric cooking are increasingly viable, as well as commercially beneficial alternatives.
Yet, while higher levels of investments flow towards renewable electricity projects, both on- and off-grid, the clean cooking sector attracts only a limited amount of international and local finance.
Reem bin Karam, Director of NAMA, said that nearly 4 million people a year die from illnesses linked to cooking with polluting fuels, and women are most affected, according to the World Health Organization.
The linkages between cooking, gender equality, health, the environment, and a changing climate cannot be denied or overlooked.
Beyond Food was launched during IRENA’s 7th Renewables Talks, held at Expo 2020 Dubai, which convened IRENA’s Permanent Representatives and ambassadors to discuss practical approaches to achieving enhanced clean cooking action.