More than a quarter of the global population still cook meals over open fires and/or on simple stoves fuelled by firewood, agricultural waste, dried dung, charcoal, and coal. This practice results in the emission of harmful and dangerously high levels of household air pollution.
Exposure to this household air pollution has been estimated to cause around 3.2 million deaths annually in 2019; these emissions also worsen ambient air quality, alter the global climate, have gendered livelihood impacts, and degrade the local environment.