Ghana’s energy transition story is one of slow but visible progress, and rising costs that threaten to stall it. Despite years of campaigns for cleaner cooking fuels, the country still burns more charcoal than ever, while LPG remains out of reach for many households.
According to data, about 77% of Ghanaian households continue to rely on charcoal and firewood for cooking, especially in rural and peri-urban communities. The use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), though expanding, has reached only about 35–40% of households, with most users in urban centers such as Accra, Kumasi, and Takoradi. Rural Ghana, by contrast, remains heavily dependent on wood fuel.
Experts describe this as a “fuel-stacking” culture, where families alternate between LPG and charcoal depending on affordability and availability. That affordability gap is widening fast.
Charcoal Inflation Soars
Charcoal prices have skyrocketed in recent months. In the September 2025 Consumer Price Index report, charcoal ranked third among the Top 20 contributors to inflation, posting a year-on-year rate of 43.8% and a month-on-month inflation of 19.3%, the highest among all major inflation contributors on a monthly basis.
It also ranked 11th among the top 20 high-inflation items, surging from 17.8% in August to 43.8% in September, a staggering 26-percentage-point jump in its inflation rate. The steep rise reflects higher production and transport costs, as well as the growing demand from households switching back to charcoal amid high LPG prices.
LPG Still a Middle-Class Fuel
While LPG is cleaner and safer, it remains a middle-class commodity in much of the country. The government’s Cylinder Recirculation Model (CRM), launched in 2023, and efforts to expand gas processing and storage are aimed at improving access and safety. Ghana’s official target is to reach 50% LPG penetration by 2030.
Consumption of LPG grew modestly by about 4% in 2023, from 305,000 to 317,000 metric tons, according to the National Petroleum Authority (NPA). Yet, this growth is heavily urban-biased. Many rural communities still lack LPG stations, cylinder exchange points, or reliable transport to refill centers.
At the same time, LPG prices have been volatile, driven by global market trends and local taxes. The NPA has called for tax relief on LPG to make it more affordable, but until then, charcoal remains the fallback option for most families.
The Environmental and Social Cost
The cost of this dependence is not just economic. Charcoal production continues to strip Ghana’s forests, depleting tree species and degrading land. In many northern and forest-zone communities, charcoal burning is both a livelihood and a threat, feeding incomes today but eroding ecosystems for tomorrow.
Innovations like grass briquettes and “waste-to-wealth” biochar projects show promise, but their scale is still small compared to the national demand.
A Transition Stuck in the Middle
Ghana’s energy mix is in transition, but not fast enough to meet its clean cooking and environmental targets. LPG adoption is growing, but charcoal still dominates, and inflation is making the shift even harder.
