2021/115 Supported by K NKONW A A WELDEGDEG E OL N ONTOET E S ESREI R E ISE S F OFRO R P R&A C T HTEH E NEENREGRYG Y ETX ITCREA C T I V E S G L O B A L P R A C T I C E THE BOTTOM LINE COVID-19’s Impact on the Transition to Clean Cooking Fuels: The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified household preferences Initial Findings from a Case Study in Rural Kenya for convenience and affordability, presenting challenges as well as opportunities for the transition to How are COVID-19 and cooking connected? of the study is to gather evidence for use in quantifying and mea- suring the climate, health, and gender co-benefits of clean cooking clean cooking fuels. Initial findings It appears that the pandemic has disproportionately interventions (ESMAP 2020b). Sistema.bio, a company that supplies from a case study conducted affected poorer households lacking access to clean biodigester packages, was competitively selected to participate in in rural Kenya suggest that the pandemic and lockdown have cooking solutions the study through an open solicitation process. It shared its customer list for the study. The FGDs were designed to inform the design of a altered household cooking practices The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed our daily routines, household survey tool suitable for use in local communities. Specific and fuel-use patterns. Households with many of us spending more time in our kitchens than ever objectives were to learn about local cooking practices, knowledge, in the study’s intervention group before. For those with access to modern cooking technologies and beliefs; habits in the procurement of cooking fuels; patterns in used domestically produced and fuels, this translates into more meals prepared in comfortable the use of time; and perceptions about gender roles and women’s biogas; those in the control group, surroundings. But what of the estimated four billion people around empowerment. With the advent of COVID-19, the FGDs also explored chiefly wood, supplemented the world who lack access to efficient, clean, convenient, safe, the pandemic’s impact on cooking-related behavior. by liquefied petroleum gas and affordable, and reliable cooking solutions (ESMAP 2020a)? Has the The sample for the FGDs reported here included 300 households charcoal. Independent access to pandemic had harsher effects on households lacking access to such in Kigumo, a rural part of Kiambu county (see photo on page 2). biogas insulated the intervention solutions? And what are the implications of the ongoing pandemic Households were classified as middle class or skilled working class, group from fluctuations in fuel for the transition to clean cooking? This Live Wire sheds light on according to the terms of the Living Standards Measure, which prices and limits on access, while these issues using initial findings from a case study using focus segments populations based on ownership of a wide range of encouraging adoption. As recovery group discussions (FGDs) in rural areas of Kenya’s Kiambu county. products and services.1 begins, the right policies can speed In October 2020, as part of a larger field study funded and man- The sample was divided equally into intervention and control the transition to clean cooking aged by the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program and the groups. Households in the intervention group were Sistema.bio fuels. Poor households—those Carbon Initiative for Development of the World Bank, Berkeley Air customers that had purchased and installed domestic biodigesters 6 most affected by the pandemic Monitoring Group conducted FGDs with women in rural households to 30 months earlier. Households in the control group were selected but least equipped to recover from in Kiambu (BAMG 2020). The county borders Nairobi and has a popu- based on a profile similar to that of the intervention group in terms its effects—will need the greatest lation of 2.5 million (40 percent rural; 60 percent urban). The purpose of location, age of the principal cook, and social-economic class. As support. noted, participating households ranged from middle class to skilled working class. Yabei Zhang is a senior energy specialist in Zijun Li is a climate finance specialist in the the Energy Sector Management Assistance World Bank’s Climate Change Group. 1 Program of the World Bank’s Energy and For details on the Living Standards Measure, see http://www.saarf.co.za/lsm/lsms.asp. On the definition of classes, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NRS_social_grade. Extractives Global Practice. COVID-19’s Impact on the Transition to Clean Cooking Fuels 2 C O V I D - 1 9 ’ s I m pact o n th e T r a n s itio n to C l e a n C ooki n g F u e l s Two all-female FGDs were held: one for the intervention group, with 10 participants; the other for the control group, with 9 partici- pants. To ensure representative yet logistically feasible groups, the participants were randomly selected from the sample by age and location strata. Women over 60 were not included because of a COVID-19 has had government order prohibiting people over 60 from attending social interacting effects on gatherings. At the time of the FGDs, the study communities were under a cooking and fuel use. The partial lockdown. A curfew was in effect from 9:00 pm to 4:00 am, types and amount of foods and schools were closed. Mobility had been restricted in areas expe- cooked, the person doing riencing a high number of COVID cases, including the nearby Nairobi the cooking, and the fuels metropolitan area. Since a portion of the study area fell within this region, where many people in the communities work or do business, used—all have changed to most participants were affected by the restrictions either directly or varying degrees. indirectly. Has the onset of COVID-19 changed cooking practices? Focus group discussions with women in Kiambu county, Kenya Photo courtesy of Eco Research. Participants in both groups reported similar pandemic-related factors affecting their cooking to home. One knock-on effect of higher food prices and the desire behavior to build robust food reserves was that household money earmarked The FGD participants in both the intervention and control groups for school fees, travel, and festivals was spent on food instead. The agreed that the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated reallocation had no significant consequences, since the activities for lockdown had (i) reduced their mobility owing to travel restrictions which the funds were originally intended were not permitted during and higher transportation costs; (ii) pushed up food and fuel prices; the lockdown. (iii) cut household income; and (iv) raised the number of household “The economy is bad ... and the price of oil is high, [so] members at home during the day. These and other factors have had we reduce cooking chapatti. Those meals that spend more interacting effects on cooking and fuel use. The types and amount of money, we reduce their consumption.”—Participant in foods cooked, the person doing the cooking, and the fuels used—all intervention group have changed to varying degrees. Types of foods cooked. Both groups reported changes in the Time spent cooking and quantity of food cooked. types of food they cook, driven mainly by price increases for staples Participants in both groups also reported changes in the amount of such as oil and cereals. Inflation, combined with lower household food they cooked and the number of times they cooked each day. income, has led many of the participants to cut their consumption The main driver for these changes has been greater demand for of dishes that require more expensive ingredients (e.g., chapatti food cooked at home since, owing to lockdown restrictions, more and soups cooked with animal bone). Instead, they have increased members of the household are at home during the day rather than their reliance on foods they farm themselves or can obtain locally, at school or work. As a result, women are spending more time and stretching their household budget and permitting them to stay closer money feeding their families, despite having more limited resources. 3 C O V I D - 1 9 ’ s I m pact o n th e T r a n s itio n to C l e a n C ooki n g F u e l s Some of the extra cooking tasks imposed by the presence of kitchen waste, cow dung, crop residues, and other organic material is children and teens at home appear to have been assumed by the deposited and allowed to ferment. Reliability can be impaired in cold youngsters, sometimes without supervision, implying a greater risk weather, when water condenses faster in the biodigester’s gas line, of accidents. Viewed conversely, this development could also enable making it necessary to empty one of the water traps in the line. Also, young people to develop new skills, which, in turn, could affect time- gas production can drop with cold temperatures, and families are Since the onset of COVID- use patterns and post-pandemic empowerment. instructed to load less manure and to use counterweights to ensure 19, charcoal and LPG have access to all of the gas in their digester. “School-going children are now at home…. I was cooking half Since the onset of COVID-19, charcoal and LPG have become become more scarce kilogram of rice, but now I had to add so that they can have more scarce and more expensive. The associated lockdown has and more expensive.… something to eat. They also take tea and a snack at 10:00 am in particularly affected the affordability of LPG owing to reduced access school, which I have to provide now…. We are spending more Participants in the control to the fuel and higher transportation costs. In response to the high on food….”— Participant in control group group reported increased incidence of cases in the Nairobi metropolitan area, movement “When there was no coronavirus, children were going to school restrictions were imposed. Providers of essential services could use of wood and other from 5:00 am, and I was going to work…, so my kitchen was obtain certificates to allow unrestricted movement, but smaller LPG biomass obtained close vendors were denied because the scale of their operations was closed at 9:00 am and opened again at 6:00 pm. But now every- to home and reduced use one is around, so we are using the kitchen more.”— Participant insufficient for them to be considered essential. of LPG, extending cooking in intervention group With many local LPG vendors unable to travel to Nairobi to resupply, consumers, like the vendors themselves, were forced to times. travel long distances to obtain fuel from areas in which movement Have the intervention and control groups been had not been restricted. Even though some restrictions had been differently affected? lifted at the time of the FGDs, the participants reported that inflated The intervention group reported less fuel stacking prices had not yet eased, and they worried that prices might not and less time spent cooking return to pre-COVID levels. Patterns of stove and fuel use. Participants in the control group “There was a time that gas was expensive and scarce…, which changed the way I cooked.”—Participant in control group reported using firewood as their primary cooking fuel, supplemented by various combinations of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and “Some vendors will not lower the prices after [the pandemic]; charcoal. The use of more than one cooking fuel, a practice known as they will take advantage of the high prices and continue selling it fuel stacking, was common. For example, if quick cooking is required, the same way.”— Participant in control group LPG will be used. For heating water or preparing typical meals that “Before I had biogas, I had to save to fill my gas cylinder…. It’s require slow cooking (e.g., githeri), wood is used. During the wet easier to cook with gas than firewood, but now biogas is easily season, charcoal and LPG are used more often than they are in dry accessible: no cost involved to go and buy gas. It has helped me weather. economically.”—Participant in intervention group Participants in the intervention group reported less fuel stacking, relying chiefly on domestically produced biogas. They use wood as The intervention group’s low reliance on LPG—relative to the a back-up when the gas supply is less reliable (see below)—and for control group’s—has limited COVID-19’s impact on its fuel-use specific tasks such as warming water to wash cows before milking, patterns. By contrast, participants in the control group reported heating laundry water, and cooking githeri. increased use of wood and other biomass obtained close to home Biogas is a mixture of methane, carbon dioxide, and other trace and reduced use of LPG. Some reported paying for a tree to be cut, gases. It is produced in biodigesters—airtight vessels in which split, and delivered. 4 C O V I D - 1 9 ’ s I m pact o n th e T r a n s itio n to C l e a n C ooki n g F u e l s Time spent cooking. Switching from LPG to wood among the control group has extended cooking times. Participants in the intervention group, by contrast, did not report changes in time spent cooking, because their use of domestically produced biogas for cooking is not affected by the pandemic. Instead, they reported COVID-19 is nudging an overall reduction in time spent cooking compared with levels middle-income households prevailing prior to installation of their biodigester. A key factor is that the biogas stove has two side-by-side burners (see photo opposite). to switch to modern Previously, many participants had used several stoves, often located cooking fuels (biogas and in separate rooms, or had used one stove over a longer period of electricity), because these time. The participants reported that biogas stoves are easier and have been less disrupted quicker to light than their previous wood stoves. Also, they observed that their husbands and children were cooking more, since cooking by the COVID restrictions. with biogas is easier and more pleasant than cooking with wood. However, absent external support, COVID-19 will Has the COVID-19 challenge presented opportunities? push poorer households Kenyan kitchen equipped with a biogas-burning stove. COVID-19 has magnified household preferences further down the energy Photo courtesy of Dana Charron.. for convenience and affordability, presenting both ladder. challenges and opportunities for the transition to Undoubtedly, COVID-19 is having a profound impact on every- clean cooking fuels one’s life, including their cooking behavior. It has changed what is The pandemic has stimulated a stronger demand for biogas and cooked and how often, increased the number of family members at greater interest in alternative fuels, particularly among middle-class home during the day, and raised household spending on food and households. fuel while lowering household incomes. Some of these changes may The focus groups demonstrated that lower reliance on LPG and be temporary—others may trigger permanent changes in house- wood among participants in the intervention group has limited the holds’ cooking fuel choices. impact of the pandemic on their fuel-use patterns relative to those of COVID-19 is nudging middle-income households with less the control group. Moreover, discussions with Sistema.bio, the biogas severe affordability constraints to switch to modern cooking fuels company, indicate that the COVID-19 situation may have stimulated (biogas and electricity), because these have been less disrupted by interest in biogas and other alternative fuels. In 2020, the company the COVID restrictions. The case study in rural Kenya illustrates the reported higher sales than in previous years and better repayment greater resilience of biogas-using households, and increased sales rates, as families seem to value the biogas technology as an energy of other clean cooking products have been reported. For example, source. Anecdotal evidence from sales agents and technicians interviews with other cooking companies revealed that an ethanol suggests that consumers are increasingly interested in energy cooking company in Nairobi has increased its sales over previous independence, especially if it means not having to travel to buy fuel. years as middle-income households have diversified their cooking Looking ahead, what are the policy implications of the pandem- options. And a social enterprise that makes and distributes clean, ic’s effect on cooking practices? efficient cookstoves has reported sales growth over the pre-COVID 5 C O V I D - 1 9 ’ s I m pact o n th e T r a n s itio n to C l e a n C ooki n g F u e l s period, despite a newly imposed 14 percent value added tax in effect technologies for the purpose of achieving improved access to clean MAKE FURTHER since July 2020. cooking and associated health, gender, and climate benefits. CONNECTIONS However, affordability and accessibility remain major barriers By making clean cooking a policy priority, we can rebuild better, for lower-income households amid the pandemic. Absent external turning challenges into opportunities to ensure a healthier, greener, Live Wire 2014/8. “Tracking Access to support, COVID-19 will push poorer households further down the and more equitable recovery. Nonsolid Fuel for Cooking,” by Sudeshna Ghosh Banerjee, Elisa Portale, Heather energy ladder, forcing them to continue to rely on traditional biomass Adair-Rohani, and Sophie Bonjour. for cooking and further exacerbating adverse effects on health, References gender equity, and the environment. Live Wire 2015/46. “Results-Based BAMG (Berkeley Air Monitoring Group). 2020. “Summary of Results Financing to Promote Clean Stoves: As societies recover from the pandemic and rebuild, govern- from Formative Focus Group Discussions.” Report prepared for Initial Lessons from Pilots in China and ments should consider clean cooking an essential service and a ESMAP. Indonesia,” by Yabei Zhang and Norma critical part of the pandemic response. Apart from using stimulus Adams. ESMAP (Energy Sector Management Assistance Program). 2020a. The funds to build green infrastructure, the recovery provides an State of Access to Modern Energy Cooking Services. Washington, Live Wire 2016/62. “Toward Universal opportunity to integrate energy planning and tackle clean cooking DC: World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34565 Access to Clean Cooking and Heating: challenges. Demand for cooking energy should be an explicit part Early Lessons from the East Asia and ESMAP . 2020b. Quantifying and Measuring Climate, Health, of national energy planning, with a target of ensuring universal Pacific Clean Stove Initiative,” by Yabei and Gender Co-Benefits from Clean Cooking Interventions: Zhang and Norma Adams. access to clean cooking. National roadmaps to universal access to Methodologies Review. Washington, DC: World Bank. clean cooking should be guided by a least-cost, best-fit strategy that Live Wire 2016/63. “The Lao Cookstove reflects diverse users’ needs, local market conditions, and national This Live Wire was developed as part of an ongoing field study to quantify and Experience: Redefining Health through Cleaner Energy Solutions,” by Rutu Dave comparative advantages in energy resources, which can further measure the climate, health, and gender co-benefits of clean cooking inter- and Rema N. Balasundaram. guide investments in infrastructure and programming. ventions. The study is funded by the Energy Sector Management Assistance More budgetary support will be needed for poorer households, Program and the Carbon Initiative for Development of the World Bank. The Live Wire 2016/64. “Contextual Design authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of Berkeley Air Monitoring and Promotion of Clean Biomass Stoves: those most affected by the pandemic but least equipped to recover Group, which prepared the summary report of the focus group discussions, The Case of the Indonesia Clean Stove from it. Such support could take the form of conditional or uncon- Initiative,” by Laurent Durix, Helene and Norma Adams, who edited an earlier version of this brief. The authors ditional cash transfers or results-based grants that provide cash are grateful for constructive comments provided by peer reviewers Dana Carlsson Rex, and Veronica Mendizabal. incentives to eligible households to enable them to acquire certain Rysankova and Patrick Thaddayos Balla. Live Wire 2017/74. “Increasing the Use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas in Cooking in Developing Countries,” by Richenda Van Leeuwen, Alex Evans, and Besnik Hyseni. Live Wire 2018/89. “Kenya’s Strategy to Make Liquefied Petroleum Gas the Nation’s Primary Cooking Fuel,” by Inge C. van den Berg. Live Wire 2019/99. “Beyond the Last Mile: Piloting High-Efficiency, Low-Emissions Heating Technologies in Central Asia,” by Yabei Zhang, Norma Adams, and Crispin Pemberton-Pigott. Find these and the entire Live Wire archive at www.worldbank.org/energy/ livewire. 6 Get Connected to Live Wire Live Wire briefs are The Live Wire series of online knowledge notes, an initiative of the World Bank Group’s designed for easy reading Energy and Extractives Global Practice, offers rich insights from project and analytical work on the screen and for done by the World Bank Group. downloading and self-printing “Live Wire is designed in color or black and white. 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