09-05-2025
USAID's Demise Threatens a Vital Health and Climate Solution in Africa
The Trump administration's gutting of the US Agency for International Development, with 80% of its programs now canceled, is a blow for clean cookstove programs in Africa. That means more Africans will have to rely on burning wood or charcoal in their homes, driving air pollution, deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions across the continent.
Clean cookstoves run on electricity, gas or smaller amounts of biomass, and switching households to less polluting cooking methods reduces harmful impacts. Health and environmental advocates for years have promoted clean cooking as an affordable, win-win solution. But the stoppage of US aid has left many projects in limbo.
