A recent study by the International Energy Agency and the African Development Bank Group revealed that about 2.5 billion people worldwide still use “dirty cooking” methods. Using animal manure, charcoal, and other open-fire options to prepare meals, aside from causing detrimental health effects, had damaged the environment due to the carbon emissions of such methods.

In the Philippines, only around 48 percent of the population in 2021 has access to clean cooking technologies, leaving the rest dependent on so-called dirty cooking methods. The costs of clean cooking technologies and lack of interventions that respond to the underlying needs of poor households leave them to depend on less clean alternatives, reported the World Bank.

Poverty and environmental degradation can be mutually reinforcing, hence plans focused on uplifting poor households can help them access more sustainable practices. But while addressing poverty and environmental links is vital, solving the climate crisis goes beyond changing the practices and circumstances of the poor. 

 
Trapped in the Smoke

People living in poverty have to make do with the resources available in their areas, even when it is detrimental to their health and the environment. Without financial and more systemic support to aid the shift from dirty cooking to cleaner cooking methods, people stick to whatever is available in their proximity.

Since February, the household liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prices in Metro Manila ranged from P934 to P1,118 per 11-kilogram cylinder, compelling people to use charcoal and fuelwood instead because of their lower prices and accessibility.

“[They] do not even have any access to electricity and water, so even if they invest sa mga cleaner option, yung requirements or prerequisites for cleaner options hindi nila kayang i-provide dahil sa current [economic] status nila,” said Alyssa Darunday, head of the Panatang Luntian Coalition, a network of environmental organizations in the country.

The countries with the greatest population without access to clean cooking include the Philippines, 10 Sub-Saharan African countries, five Eastern Asian and Southeast Asian nations, and four Central Asian and Southern Asian countries. The Asian Development Bank Institute said that the common factor among regions in these countries without access to modern energy cooking services is that they are predominantly rural.

According to Darunday, lacking access to clean cooking technologies makes interactions with the environment more direct, and effects more detrimental to people in rural areas. Households become exposed to smoke from the charcoal and fuelwood, damaging their health. Pollution from this kind of smoke is the third largest cause of premature deaths globally. As the extraction of charcoal and fuelwood also causes forest loss about the size of Ireland annually, people living next to forests become more vulnerable to climate hazards.

Imminent Combustion

Households, especially those in rural areas, are susceptible to poverty-environment traps: Poor households increasingly rely on extracting from their immediate surroundings to meet their needs, but these actions can cause environmental degradation, lessening households' security once nothing is left to extract. This creates an endless trap.   

Even with the awareness of the damage dirty cooking causes, people are not provided with other options. “Kahit i-educate mo na hindi gumamit ng mga ganyan, kulong tayo sa economic status. At the same time, kaya nga hinihingi natin yung mga minimum wage increase kasi nare-realize natin na hindi siya sustainable in the long run,” said Darunday.

As poverty affects the climate, the climate crisis also affects the poor. According to research by the World Bank, without action, climate change will force approximately 132 million individuals into extreme poverty by 2030. Because climate change causes more extreme disasters such as floods and earthquakes, poor households have fewer resources to prepare for catastrophes, resulting in the loss of their homes and resources.

Solving the climate crisis, then, necessitates the recognition that those who contributed the most to the damage must bear more of the burden to help disproportionately affected populations. While poverty alleviation and strong climate actions are needed, there must also be reparations and more radical steps from developed countries such as those in North America and the European Union that continuously contribute the biggest to climate damage.

The Climate Transparency Report 2020 reveals that the building sector, which includes cooking, heating, and electricity use made up only 7 percent of direct carbon emissions in the Philippines, while the power sector made up about 51 percent. Globally, the biggest cause of emissions has been the power sector, with 14.65 gigatons of emissions recorded in 2022. The lowest recorded emissions were from the building sector, with 2.97 gigatons. 

Taming the Flames

While developed nations produce the most carbon emissions globally, poorer countries such as the Philippines bear the brunt of the repercussions. The European Network on Debt and Development shows that the poorest 50 percent contribute only 7 percent of global emissions, while the wealthiest 1 percent account for 15 percent of emissions.

“Kung gustong pag-usapan yung poverty alleviation, kailangan mong pag-usapan kung ano ginagawa ng administration and other countries na tuloy ang paga-assert ng neoliberal policies na nagfe-favor lang talaga sa Global North,” said Darunday.

High-income nations persist in ecologically unequal exchanges with low-income countries, extracting resources like raw materials, where value added per ton in exports is 11 times higher in Global North countries than in the Global South.

If governments want to solve the climate crisis, wealthier countries should work on immediately phasing out forms of dirty energy and focusing on renewable energies, which bodies like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change say are critical for meeting climate targets. Human rights and environmental groups have long been calling for reparations for the loss and damages caused by extractive projects in Global South countries, according to Darunday.

Solving the climate crisis goes beyond dirty cooking, as pervasive problems such as extractive projects continue to cause more irreversible damage to the country. The administration must then provide policies that prevent foreign companies from further exploiting the environment and safeguard the Filipino people from the climate crisis. ●