The African Energy Chamber (AEC) has called on the International Energy Agency to recalibrate its global energy outlooks and place Africa’s energy security and clean cooking crisis at the center of its agenda.
In a statement distributed by APO Group, the Chamber argued that the Paris-based agency has drifted from its founding mandate of safeguarding reliable and affordable energy supplies, instead adopting positions that have constrained investment in African oil and gas projects.
The renewed debate comes as the United States ramps up pressure on the IEA. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright signaled that Washington expects the agency to refocus on practical energy access goals, including solvable clean cooking challenges, rather than what he described as climate-driven modelling.
According to the AEC, the IEA’s 2021 net-zero roadmap, later updated in 2025, has had far-reaching implications for developing economies. The roadmap’s call for no new fossil fuel supply investments after 2021 and sweeping electrification targets has, the Chamber argues, been used by financiers and multilateral institutions to restrict capital flows into African hydrocarbons.
The Chamber contends that these financing shifts have slowed progress in tackling energy poverty on the continent, where an estimated 592 million people lack electricity access and more than 900 million lack clean cooking solutions.
Global financial institutions including BNP Paribas and HSBC have halted new oil and gas financing in recent years, while others such as Barclays and Deutsche Bank have adopted more selective approaches. The World Bank also announced in 2019 that it would end direct investments in upstream oil and gas.
The AEC maintains that these moves, influenced in part by IEA outlooks, have undermined Africa’s ability to monetize its gas reserves, resources it views as critical for expanding power generation and delivering cleaner cooking fuels.
Projects such as Angola LNG, Congo LNG and the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim development in Senegal and Mauritania are cited as examples of strategic gas infrastructure that could support both domestic energy access and export revenues.
The Chamber also referenced remarks made during the IEA’s 2026 Ministerial, where Secretary Wright stated that an estimated $4 billion annually could significantly accelerate clean cooking deployment and help lift nearly two billion people out of energy poverty.
While welcoming the IEA’s recent decision to host the Clean Cooking Alliance, launched in 2010 to address the global cooking crisis, the AEC stressed that meaningful reform must extend beyond new initiatives. It called for revised outlooks that reflect differentiated development pathways, the rejection of blanket fossil fuel investment bans and recognition that African hydrocarbons can coexist with global climate objectives.
With pressure mounting on the IEA to balance climate ambition with energy access realities, the Chamber insists that partnerships not prohibitions will determine whether Africa can effectively confront its clean cooking challenge.
