According to a recent survey by the National Bureau of Statistics, 68.3% of all Nigerian households still use solid biomass for cooking. In addition to the climate impacts of deforestation and cooking emissions, the World Health Organisation estimates that smoke from the kitchen leads to 95,300 deaths annually in Nigeria – making it a leading cause of death after malaria and HIV/ Aids. Moreover, the traditional cooking method is expensive, burning up to 90% more wood than is necessary and costing poor families money that could be put to better use on education, health and nutrition.

The costs are primarily borne by women. In many parts of the country, women and girls are responsible for fetching firewood. This is time that could go to schooling and other empowerment opportunities. Further to the drudgery of collecting firewood, women and girls also bear the additional burden of inhaling most of the deadly smoke. In many ways, the lack of access to clean-cooking is Nigeria's silent energy crisis.

Against this backdrop, the International Centre for Energy, Environment & Development (ICEED), in conjunction with the Heinrich Böll Foundation, commissioned a number of research papers that sought to identify important barriers to expanding access to clean-cooking in Nigeria.