A recent report by the Centre for Science and Environment stated that 41% of Indians still rely on wood, cow dung, or other biomass for cooking fuel, contributing to around 340 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually. Despite the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana's efforts to expand access to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), the transition to clean cooking in households has not been guaranteed for those benefiting from the scheme.
Globally, around 2.4 billion people, including 500 million in India, still lack access to clean cooking solutions, impacting the economy, public health, and the environment. Indoor air pollution from wood-based cooking causes approximately three million premature deaths annually worldwide, with 0.6 million occurring in India alone, according to the report.
Although the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MOPNG) claims that the country's household LPG "coverage" stands at 99.8 per cent, the National Family Health Survey conducted in 201921 (NFHS-5) shows that 41 per cent of the population still cooks on biomass, it said. "CSE's own calculations have found that this 41 per cent cumulatively emits — when it cooks on wood, cow dung or other biomass around 340 million tonnes of CO2 (carbon dioxide) into the environment every year, which is about 13 per cent of India's national GHG emissions," the report said.