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Dirty secret: Half of world lacks clean cooking, at a huge cost

(Reuters, 25 Sep 2020) Failure to provide 4 billion people with access to clean, safe and affordable ways of cooking is costing $2.4 trillion a year.

A global failure to provide about 4 billion people - half the world's population - with access to clean, safe and affordable ways of cooking is costing $2.4 trillion a year in damage to health, the climate and local economies, new figures show.

report released by the World Bank and its partners this week said women bear the brunt of preparing food using harmful and polluting fuels - a blindspot for governments and business, despite a global goal to provide clean cooking for all by 2030.

The bulk of the cost of dirty cooking - $1.4 trillion per year - comes from the health impacts of using smoky, high-emitting fuels such as wood, kerosene, charcoal and dung, it estimated.

"Women bear a disproportionate share of this cost in the form of poor health and safety, as well as lost productivity," said Makhtar Diop, World Bank vice president for infrastructure.

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Reuters, 25 Sep 2020: Dirty secret: Half of world lacks clean cooking, at a huge cost