Senators Collins, Durbin Introduce Clean Cooking Bill to Improve Global Environment, Public Health

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Dick Durbin (D-IL), introduced the Clean Cooking Support Act, a bill that would address the health, environmental, and economic problems caused by exposure to smoke from traditional cookstoves and open fires.  The bipartisan legislation reinforces the U.S. government’s commitment to spurring the adoption of clean cookstoves around the world and seeks to take a whole-of-government approach to address household air pollution.

“Our bill aims to address a serious global public health and environmental issue where leadership by the United States can make a real difference.  It would directly benefit some of the world’s poorest people, including the women and girls who are disproportionately affected, and reduce harmful pollution that affects us all,” said Senator Susan Collins.  “I urge my colleagues to join me and Senator Durbin in supporting the Clean Cooking Support Act.”

“The U.S. should take a leadership position in creating and implementing climate solutions that support a cleaner, healthier planet for all,” said Senator Durbin.  “With the Clean Cooking Support Act, we can reduce harmful emissions and protect people from the dangerous health risks of inefficient and unsafe cookstoves and fuels.  I’m proud to join Senator Collins in introducing this bipartisan legislation to ensure that American development assistance and expertise helps in this timely effort.” 

This legislation has received strong bipartisan support from more than 50 organizations throughout Maine and across our country.

At an event during the COP26 international climate conference, the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Michael S. Regan said, “The U.S. government will work with the Clean Cooking Alliance, other country governments, and partners at every level of government to reduce emissions from home cooking and heating that contribute to climate change and directly affect the health and livelihoods of almost 40 percent of the world’s population.”

“The message from COP26 was clear: we need climate solutions that not only reduce harmful emissions, but also help address health, economic, and gender inequities,” said Dymphna van der Lans, Chief Executive Officer of Clean Cooking Alliance.  “This transition cannot happen without significant increases in funding and dedicated resources.  We thank Senator Collins and Senator Durbin for their leadership on this important issue, and we look forward to working together to pass this legislation and help make universal access to clean cooking a reality.”

“Everyone deserves the opportunity to breathe clean, healthy air,” said Harold Wimmer, President & CEO of the American Lung Association. “Helping people transition from old, polluting cookstoves to newer versions that emit less particle pollution will have immediate health benefits, especially for the women, young children and the underserved communities who disproportionately suffer the effects of household air pollution. Thank you to Senators Collins and Durbin for their continued leadership on this issue.” 

Nearly three billion people, or one-third of the global population, rely on “dirty cooking,” such as open fires or inefficient, polluting, and unsafe cookstoves that use agricultural waste, coal, dung, wood, charcoal, or other solid fuels, to cook their meals.  The majority of people using these types of cookstoves and fuels are in developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.  Exposure to smoke from these traditional cooking methods and open fires causes chronic and acute diseases such as lung cancer, heart disease, and stroke.  Household air pollution caused by traditional cookstoves and open fires causes 4 million premature deaths annually, including 400,000 children younger than five years of age, most of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa.

Traditional cookstoves also create serious environmental problems, contributing to more than 10 percent of global ambient air pollution.  According to the EPA, greenhouse gas emissions from non-renewable wood fuels for cooking amount to two percent of the global CO2 emissions, on par with the global CO2 emissions from the aviation or shipping industries.

Since 2010, the Clean Cooking Alliance, an innovative public-private partnership hosted by the United Nations Foundation, has supported the adoption of clean cooking worldwide, with the goal of achieving universal access to clean cooking by 2030.  The Clean Cooking Support Act would support this effort by:

• Establish as a policy of the United States to reduce the adverse effects of household energy use in its foreign assistance programs and activities through research on clean cookstoves, diplomatic engagement to create a market for clean cookstoves, and the support of humanitarian efforts in the distribution of clean cooking devices and fuels.
• The creation of an interagency working group managed by the Secretary of State and implemented by the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development. This working group will consist of at least six relevant federal agencies providing support for clean cookstoves initiatives.
• The creation of a Clean Cooking Program that engages non-governmental and international partners in the support, distribution, and development of clean cookstoves and their adaptation.
• Establishes an annual reporting requirement that requires all participating agencies to describe the progress made to further the development, distribution, and support of the Clean Cooking Program.

Click HERE to read the bill text.

Click HERE for the full list of supporting organizations.

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