The Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Oil Marketing Companies (COMAC), Dr Riverson Oppong, has warned that Ghana’s clean cooking transition could fail unless the country builds reliable liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) refill infrastructure alongside cylinder distribution programmes.
Speaking at a public lecture in Accra on the topic Energy sovereignty in the context of global energy transition: What Africa should know, Dr Oppong stated that distributing gas cylinders without reliable refill infrastructure forces households back to charcoal. The comment highlights a critical gap in Ghana’s current clean cooking strategy.
According to the 2024 Ghana Social Development Outlook report by the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), 77 percent of Ghanaian households rely on primary fuels like charcoal for cooking, with only 28.7 percent using clean energy such as LPG or electricity. The slow transition reflects persistent gaps in infrastructure, affordability and awareness.
Separate research estimates that approximately 75 percent of Ghana’s population, nearly 26 million people, depend on solid biomass fuels like charcoal and firewood, a dependence described by stakeholders as a looming public health and environmental crisis.
Charcoal and biomass cooking are associated with significant health risks, especially in poorly ventilated homes. Citing data from the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 28,000 people die annually in Ghana due to indoor air pollution caused by burning firewood and charcoal. The pollutants are implicated in chronic lung and cardiovascular illnesses, acute respiratory infections in children, and other serious health conditions, with women and young children disproportionately affected due to time spent near cooking fires.
The environmental consequences of sustained charcoal use are equally stark. Research focused on the Greater Accra region and surrounding supply areas such as the Afram Plains reveals that urban charcoal demand is contributing to deforestation and ecosystem degradation.
Research findings reveal that charcoal consumption in Greater Accra results in an estimated loss of 354,479 trees annually in the Afram Plains, creating an ecological deficit of 18,850 hectares per year, significantly exceeding the ecosystem’s regenerative capacity.
Separately, broader national analyses suggest that Ghana continues to lose forest cover at significant rates, with charcoal production and firewood harvesting among major drivers of deforestation over recent decades.
Dr Oppong’s comments underscore a key challenge in Ghana’s energy transition: the gap between policy intentions and what households can practically access and afford. While government programmes have expanded LPG cylinder distribution, the absence of a dependable refill and distribution network outside major cities means many families revert to charcoal, the most accessible fuel for daily cooking.
Energy sector observers say that for Ghana to make meaningful inroads in clean cooking adoption, investments must focus not only on cylinder availability but also on fuel supply infrastructure, price stability, and behaviour change campaigns.
As the country seeks balanced energy security in the context of global shifts toward cleaner fuels, the persistence of charcoal use, with its clear health and environmental costs, remains a test of how well policy translates into real world impact.
