Estimating shifts in fuel stacking among solid biomass fuels and liquified petroleum gas in rural households: A pan-India analysis

Abstract

Abstract Over 95% of Indian households have liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) connections, however, cooking with solid biomass fuel (SBF) still persists, with calamitous consequences for air pollution and climate. Here, we make country-wide surveys on fuel, stove technology and practices and exploit them in a regression model framework to estimate fuel stacking, energy demand, and cooking fuel use in Indian households. We find overwhelming persistence of SBF cooking, with 68% of India’s rural population cooking exclusively or with a fuel mix predominant in SBF. We estimate a cooking energy demand of 1240 PJ y− 1, over half of which is met by SBF (291 MT y− 1). Despite a national initiative for LPG dissemination, below poverty level households have experienced a decline in purchase parity of 7 kg consumer− 1 y− 1 LPG during 2018–2022. A complete shift to clean cooking energy is key in a portfolio of clean air and climate solutions for India.