The IEA should be at the forefront of Africa’s clean cooking development.
The US has intensified pressure on the International Energy Agency (IEA) – signaling that it could withdraw from the institution unless it refocuses on its founding mandate of safeguarding global energy security.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said Washington is not satisfied with the Paris-based agency’s current direction, arguing that its modelling and outlooks have become overly shaped by climate ideology at the expense of practical energy realities. He was direct in his messaging when he said that the IEA must return to prioritizing energy access and solvable clean cooking solutions.
For years, African leaders and private-sector stakeholders have argued that the IEA drifted from its original purpose – becoming increasingly politicized in its outlooks and instrumental in shaping restrictive financing narratives around oil and gas. The African Energy Chamber (AEC) has consistently maintained that this shift has had real consequences for developing economies, contributing to capital flight from African hydrocarbons and slowing the continent’s ability to tackle widespread energy poverty. If the IEA is now reassessing its position, the question is whether this represents genuine reform – or political expediency under mounting global pressure.
A History of Weaponizing Energy Outlooks
The IEA has politicized its outlooks and adopted an anti-oil and gas agenda that directly undermined African development ambitions for years. Its 2021 net-zero roadmap – updated in 2025 – became a weapon used by financiers and multilateral institutions to restrict capital flows into Africa’s energy sector. Some of the objectives include no new investment for fossil fuel supply after 2021 and sales of fossil fuel boilers after 2025. It also condemns international combustion engine car sales after 2035, targeting 60% electric car sales and 50% electric heavy trucks from 2035.
These steps assume a lot about the state of the world – assumptions that are faulty, especially for Africa. For one, it will require universal energy access by 2030 – including electricity and clean cooking. With approximately 592 million Africans currently without this access, the continent is going to be hard-pressed to flip that switch in less than 10 years.
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