Glasgow 4^th November,2021-Rwanda and Sustainable Energy for All are delighted to announce the launch of the Energy Compact on Clean Cooking. The compact represents a crucial step in the transformation of the country’s energy usage and the path towards a greener, more sustainable future.

Rwanda’s climate action plan, set out in its updated Nationally Determined Contribution, commits the country to reducing emissions by 38 % by 2030, and to reaching Net-Zero by 2050. This will be achieved through the ambitious targets towards cleaner energy solutions. One of the auto most towards cleaner energy is the establishment of Clean Cooking Results-Based Financing(CC-RBF). This is a subsidiary scheme that was launched as a partnership between Rwanda Development Bank plc (BRD) and Energy Development Corporation (EDCL), to reduce the percentage of households using firewood for cooking from a baseline value of 79.90% in 2017 to 42% by 2024.

The subsidy is designed to address the affordability of clean cooking technologies through the reduction of system prices at varying amounts allocated for Ubudehe 1, 2, and 3 categories and aiming to reach up to the lowest income population in Rwanda. The subsidy window is co-financed by the World Bank’s Clean Cooking Fund through Rwanda Energy Access and Quality Improvement Project (EAQIP). The CC-RBF expects to trigger at least 500,000 households (of which 25% are supposed to be female-headed households) to gain access to clean cooking technologies and the RBF will benefit 2.15 million people.

Rwanda's generation capacity is expected to increase from 238.36MW to 563 MW by 2021. This will accelerate access by 70% from the current 65.9% and decrease the dependence on fuelwood from 86.3% to 50% of urban populations that have access to efficient and clean cooking.  

The Energy Compact on Clean Cooking is an ambitious framework that will support in phasing out from traditional methods of cooking to modern cooking solutions. In a bid to support the energy compact, the Government has put in place an enabling environment for private sector investments in Rwanda’s renewable energy projects including mostly, hydro projects, methane gas, peat to power and solar currently adding 12.05MW on the national grid.

Rwanda aims at de-risking projects to attract private sector financing, forge more partnerships and engage various stakeholders in promoting green investments in order to achieve clean cooking goals.