Urban cooking in the global south: Social dimensions, urgency, and climate mitigation potential

Home cooking is an essential socio-cultural practice in the Global South shaped by shared meanings. Cooking fuel transition is a complex issue. It involves social and political economy contexts, household experiences, motivation, perceptions, justice and inclusivity, over and above technology supported by appropriate infrastructure access. Evidence on comprehensive, realistic, empirically grounded pathways for durable cooking fuel transitions remains limited. This systematic review synthesizes evidence from 42 studies from 50 cities in the Global South. The technical mitigation potential estimate is ~0.043 GtCO₂ by 2035. Indicative cost is USD 47.6–75.7/tCO₂. Health, economic, social and environmental benefits make the transition techno-economically attractive. Feasibility of transition across six dimensions identifies economic and socio-cultural constraints as the most pervasive barriers and deeply entrenched reasons. Institutional feasibility depends on cross-sector policy coherence. Informal settlements, where 16% of urban households globally rely on solid fuels for cooking, remain a hard-to-abate segment for the cooking fuel transition owing to the complex political economy of development patterns and governance landscapes. Overall, the study identifies three policy priorities for a durable and inclusive transition: gender-inclusive and equity-sensitive financial instruments; investment to ensure supply chain security and provide access to reliable energy services; and institutional arrangements for explicit LPG-to-decarbonized electric cooking for all in national energy roadmaps. To help overcome sticky socio-cultural habits, policies need to accommodate the time needed for an experiential journey through various fuel use by households to gain agency in making a choice toward cleaner fuel in the longer run.