MECS is a five-year £40m programme funded by UK Aid, working with the World Bank, to find innovative and modern cooking alternatives to biomass fuels, such as charcoal and wood, that are clean, affordable, reliable, and sustainable. 

The Sustainable Energy for All Forum aims to accelerate progress towards the delivery of UN Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) to end energy poverty and advance a just energy transition around the world. It brings together people from around the world to take stock of progress, showcase success and identify solutions to achieve faster, broader gains towards sustainable energy for all. It serves as a platform to broker new partnerships, spur investment, address challenges and drive action towards realizing SDG7 and a global clean energy transition.

In parallel to the Forum, MECS will be co-hosting a session on Wednesday 18^th May, from 12.15-1pm CAT, with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and World Resources Institute (WRI), focused on including modern energy cooking in energy planning. Register to attend the virtual event.

MECS will also be co-hosting a Capacity Hub training session on Thursday 19^th May, from 11.30-12.15 CAT, with Fraym and Sustainable Energy for All focused on integrating modern cooking solutions into energy planning, and co-leading the Clean Cooking Hub (17-19 May) with the Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA), where live demonstrations of Electric Pressure Cooker (EPC) cooking taking place.

Ed Brown, 含羞草视频’s Professor of Global Energy Challenges and MECS Project Lead, says: “Currently, over a third of the world’s population cook using polluting fuels, leading to around four million premature deaths each year – primarily among women and children. Using charcoal and wood to cook also has a significant impact on climate change, contributing three per cent of the total CO₂ emissions every year. 

“MECS is laying the foundations for an accelerated transition towards affordable low carbon alternatives, such as highly efficient electric cooking appliances.

“We’re calling for a target of 40% for all households connected to grid or off-grid electricity to be using it for cooking by 2030, and for a target of 60% of those utilising modern energy for cooking to be utilising energy generated from low carbon sources by 2030.”

Professor Brown continues: “A future decarbonised energy system should address unsustainable biomass, reduce overall emissions and strengthen the economy. A just, clean and inclusive transition to modern energy cooking services and sustainable energy for all will only be possible with universal access – and women’s empowerment and gender equality are fundamental to that.”