Clean Fuels For Cooking

Clean fuels and technologies are those that attain the fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and carbon monoxide (CO) levels recommended in the WHO global air quality guidelines (2021). The WHO Guidelines for indoor air quality: household fuel combustion (2014) provide PM2.5 and CO emission rate targets for devices, which are linked to the levels from the Air Quality Guidelines.

Fuel and technology combinations will be classified as clean if they achieve:

either the annual average air quality guideline level (AQG, 5 µg/m3) or the Interim Target- 1 level (IT1, 35 µg/m3) for PM2.5; and
either the 24-hour average air quality guideline level (AQG, 4 mg/m3) or the Interim Target-1 level (IT-1, 7 mg/m3) for CO
WHO’s official reporting on progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 7 to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all will use this categorization.

Clean

The following fuels and technologies are known to be clean for health at point of use and are categorized as clean for PM and CO household emissions: solar, electric, biogas, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and alcohol fuels including ethanol.

For other fuel/technology combinations including biomass, the cooking system is classified as clean if it meets the emission rate targets in the WHO Guidelines (2014), as confirmed in laboratory testing following an international laboratory testing protocol with tests conducted by a third party. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) released a set of voluntary performance targets that are constructed such that certain tier levels align with the WHO Guideline levels which confer minimal health risk.