A/HRC/40/55
the Urban Health Initiative (with pilot projects in Accra and Kathmandu) and the Global
Platform on Air Quality and Health.
A.
Cleaner air: progress in reducing household air pollution
86.
The proportion of households using solid fuels for cooking and heating has been
declining in Latin America, parts of Asia (including China, India and Indonesia), Europe
and the Eastern Mediterranean. This has contributed to a significant decline in premature
deaths from household air pollution. 43 It is strong evidence of the preventable nature of this
problem, which can be effectively addressed by government policies and programmes,
market-oriented solutions and targeted development assistance. However, there has been
only modest progress in Africa.
87.
There are many initiatives under way to accelerate the replacement of polluting fuels
and cooking/heating/lighting technologies with clean fuels and clean technologies. 44 The
Clean Cooking Alliance is working towards an objective of having at least 100 million
homes adopt clean fuels and stoves by 2020. WHO has developed a Clean Household
Energy Solutions Toolkit and “guidelines for indoor air quality: household fuel
combustion” that clarify what is considered “clean”. Cooking for Life, a project developed
by the World LPG Association and the United Nations, aims to transition households from
using polluting fuels to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for cooking.
88.
Pradhan Mantra Ujjwala Yojana is an Indian government programme started in 2016
that targets women living in poverty. Funds are provided directly to women to purchase
LPG stoves, connections and fuel. More than 50 million new LPG connections have already
been made. 45 The goal is to have LPG in 95 per cent of households by 2022. This
programme has a positive impact on the lives of millions of women, girls and households
living in poverty by providing them with access to safe, affordable cooking technologies
and fuels and reducing time previously spent gathering fuels. However, many households
with LPG connections continue to use solid fuels sometimes for cooking (for economic and
cultural reasons).46
89.
Indonesia implemented a successful “Zero Kero Programme”, launched in 2007, to
convert households from kerosene to LPG. 47 Kerosene is less efficient than LPG and
produces more household air pollution. Over 57 million free LPG starter packages
(including a one-burner stove, hose, regulator and a filled 3-kilogram cylinder) were
distributed to households and micro-businesses. Total household kerosene use in Indonesia
dropped 92 per cent between 2006 and 2015, while per capita LPG use quintupled.
Although household air quality improved, some households practise fuel stacking (i.e. the
side-by-side use of different fuels and stoves). The programme resulted in net savings in the
billions of dollars for the Government by replacing kerosene subsidies with smaller LPG
subsidies (taking into account the cost of the starter packages). The programme also
reduced overall greenhouse gas emissions from cooking. A post-implementation survey
showed that 99.8 per cent of the households preferred using LPG to kerosene, citing its
greater efficiency, speed of cooking and cleanliness. 48
90.
The national efficient cooking programme of Ecuador removes LPG subsidies
(previously costing $700 million per year) and helps households switch to induction
43
44
45
46
47
48
Health Effects Institute, State of Global Air 2018.
A. Quinn and others, “An analysis of efforts to scale up clean household energy for cooking around
the world”, Energy for Sustainable Development, vol. 46 (October 2018), pp. 1−10.
See www.pmujjwalayojana.com.
A. Kar and H. Zerriffi, “From cookstove acquisition to cooking transition: framing the behavioural
aspects of cookstove interventions”, Energy Research and Social Science, vol. 42 (August 2018), pp.
23−33.
K. Thoday and others, “The mega conversion program from kerosene to LPG in Indonesia: lessons
learned and recommendations for future clean cooking energy expansion”, Energy for Sustainable
Development, vol. 46 (December 2018), pp. 71−81.
World LPG Association, Kerosene to LPG conversion programme in Indonesia, 2018.
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