Clean cooking for every ‘body’: including people with disabilities in modern energy cooking services in the global south

Clean cooking solutions, with greater access to cleaner and safer cooking fuels than traditional energy sources, are key to ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy services for all. However, the needs of the 1 billion people living with disabilities globally who face disproportionate levels of poverty, poor access to nutrition, and challenges with buying and preparing food, have been neglected from discussions around the expansion of access to clean cooking across low- and middle-income countries. Drawing on academic and grey literature and informal discussions with disability and energy sector experts, this paper calls for the inclusion of people with disabilities in the transition to clean cooking, highlighting the potential benefits that this can bring. Including people with disabilities in clean cooking can improve the nutritional and economic status of their households, facilitate their independence, provide routes for inclusive technological innovation, and improve the health of people with disabilities. People with disabilities need to be included in the expansion of access to clean cooking. Engaging people with disabilities as champions of clean cooking, involving organisations of disabled persons, engaging disabled men and boys as well as disabled women, and linking to global resources such as social media are pivotal to widening access to clean cooking. Involving people with disabilities in clean cooking can ensure that every ‘body’ is part of efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7.