In developing countries where populations suffer from energy poverty, polluting fuels such as wood or animal dung are often used for cooking. Cooking with these fuels is generally unsustainable, because they release harmful smoke and because harvesting wood can lead to forest degradation. The universal adoption of clean cooking facilities, which are already ubiquitous in rich countries, would dramatically improve health and have minimal negative effects on climate. Clean cooking facilities, e.g. cooking facilities that produce less indoor soot, typically use natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas (both of which consume oxygen and produce carbon-dioxide) or electricity as the energy source; biogas systems are a promising alternative in some contexts. Improved cookstoves that burn biomass more efficiently than traditional stoves are an interim solution where transitioning to clean cooking systems is difficult.
