Factors Associated With the Use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas in Ghana Vary At Different Stages of Transition

Abhishek Kar, Theresa Tawiah, Linnea Graham, Georgette Owusu-Amankwah, Misbath Daouda, Flavio Malagutti, Steve Chillrud, Erin E. Harned, Seidu Iddrisu, Edward A. Apraku, Richard Tetteh, Sule Awuni, Kelsey Jack, Sulemana W. Abubakari, Darby Jack and Kwaku
February 2024 | Clean Air

Abhishek, Theresa Tawiah, Linnea Graham, Georgette Owusu-Amankwah, Misbath Daouda, Flavio Malagutti, Steve Chillrud, Erin E. Harned, Seidu Iddrisu, Edward A. Apraku, Richard Tetteh, Sule Awuni, Kelsey Jack, Sulemana W. Abubakari, Darby Jack and Kwaku P. Asante. 2024. Factors associated with the use of liquefied petroleum gas in Ghana vary at different stages of transition. Nature Energy, 9(4), 434-445. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-024-01462-5

Overview

Clean cooking energy transition from solid fuels like firewood to clean cooking fuels like gas or electricity would lead to large public health, environmental, and societal gains. Past studies have indicated that the use of polluting cooking fuels costs about US$2.4 trillion each year globally, driven by adverse impacts on public health (USD 1.4 trillion), the environment (USD 0.2 trillion), and the productivity of women (USD 0.8 trillion) who are primarily responsible for fuel collection and cooking. The target for sustainable development metrics for about 2.6 billion people in the Global South, across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and South America can only be met when this transition is achieved.

Multidisciplinary authors from CEEW, Columbia World Projects (Columbia University), Kintampo Health Research Centre (Ghana Health Service), and the University of California, Santa Barbara collaborated to provide insights on clean cooking energy transition in Ghana. In Ghana, only about 37 per cent of the population (urban: 51 per cent, rural: 15 per cent) use LPG as the primary cooking fuel according to the 2021 Population and Housing Census. The rest are dependent on charcoal and firewood to meet their cooking energy needs.

Key Highlights

• The survey was administered in person by trained enumerators to 7,389 households across all 16 administrative regions of Ghana between 19 February and 27 March 2021. Surveys were administered in the local language to the adult primary cook in a household under the supervision of Kintampo Health Research Centre (KHRC) researchers using tablets.
• Based on the literature review, we identified eight household-level socio-economic factors, three household-level behavioural factors and two community-level factors that influence the clean cooking transition. However, the literature includes contradictory findings on whether a given factor is a driver or barrier to the transition away from solid fuels.
• A conceptual framework for clean-cooking energy developed as a multi-stage decision process instead of a binary switch from exclusive solid fuel use to exclusive clean-fuel use. The three binary (success/ fail) transition choices: no LPG to LPG uptake; LPG uptake to its use as main cooking fuel; and main LPG use to exclusive LPG use.
• The framework considers that a household using LPG as the main cooking fuel is a success for the second choice but a failure for the third choice. Notably, the term failure is strictly used in the context of progression in the clean-cooking transition. These terms should not be interpreted as the authors’ judgement of a household’s fuel choice.
• The relationship between factors and transition outcomes differs across the three transition choices, both in magnitude and sign. Seven, eight and six factors out of 13 are predictive (statistically significant, P < 0.05) of the uptake, main and exclusive transition choices, respectively.
• The anomaly in the role of determinants of transition is explained when the stage-wise difference in influential predictors is considered. While one factor (say, the primary cook’s education level) is significant for uptake and main fuel use decision, it is not influential in the decision to use LPG exclusively.
• Based on regression analyses, we show that all else equal, increases in wealth and urbanicity are not significantly associated with a transition from primary to exclusive LPG use.

Key Recommendations

• Focus on identifying the stage-specific (statistically) significant drivers of and barriers to clean-cooking energy transitions and design interventions accordingly. Currently, it is at a mass scale with no targeting strategy; most efforts are either focused on the uptake transition (capital subsidy) or are generic promotions on the benefit of clean cooking fuels.
• Target households with specific demographic characteristics that are associated with successful stage transitions can improve the likelihood that other interventions (for example, information or subsidies) are successful. For example, factors such as the age of the primary cook or household size cannot be manipulated; however, they may be utilised to identify the households that have a high or low chance of transition.
• Invest in behaviour change campaigns to remove negative perceptions related to LPG use. Three of the four factors associated with exclusive LPG use, namely gender (female) and education (advanced) of household head, and gender (male) of primary cook are neither representative of a typical household in Ghana, nor, can be changed in any clean cooking intervention. The only remaining factor is negative perceptions about LPG use.