Using LPG directly emits half the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, on average, compared to the traditional use of biomass. LPG stoves are also convenient, easily transported and have high energy efficiency.
The solution to overcoming this tragic challenge is clear: upscaling clean cooking fuels.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued guidelines on what constitutes a clean fuel. For cooking, it is a fuel or technology that attains the fine particulate matter and carbon monoxide levels recommended in the WHO’s global air quality guidelines. Examples include solar power, biogas, natural gas, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
The importance of LPG in achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 7 (universal access to clean cooking by 2030) has been emphasized by a range of actors. Indeed, LPG is regarded as the primary solution to attaining that goal, and increasing access to LPG stoves and canisters has been critical in progress achieved to date.
The benefits of LPG are clear. Using LPG directly emits half the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, on average, compared to the traditional use of biomass. LPG stoves are also convenient, easily transported and have high energy efficiency.
LPG is produced by the oil and gas industry: around 60% of the total LPG produced globally is recovered directly from oil and gas fields. Throughout the refining process, further LPG is produced during atmospheric distillation, reforming, and cracking. At a global level, approximately 40% of LPG is a byproduct of oil refining.
In its contributions to the Roadmap for Brazil’s G20 Presidency on a Clean Cooking Strategy in 2024, as well as to the work of the current South African G20 Presidency, OPEC has highlighted the role that LPG can play in improving living and health standards while reducing GHG emissions. The Organization advocates for policies and programmes to promote, finance, and implement projects that expand LPG utilization across regions and countries. OPEC Member Countries have been playing a significant role in this area through initiatives such as the ‘Oil Sustainability Program’ and the ‘Clean Cooking Roadmap.’
As LPG production is integrated with the oil and gas industry’s production chain, meeting growing LPG demand requires oil market stability. LPG demand is projected to increase by 1.4 million barrels per day (mb/d) between 2024 and 2050, reaching over 11.7 mb/d by 2050.
This underscores the broader context of the need for more investment in the oil and gas industry, given the central role of petroleum and petroleum-derived products like LPG for modern life. OPEC has consistently called for timely and adequate investments in the oil industry. Their recently published World Oil Outlook 2025 estimates that required cumulative investments in the oil industry amount to US $18.2 trillion by 2050.
Haitham Al-Ghais is Secretary General of OPEC
