Welcome remarks by the Prime Minister at the Summit on Clean Cooking in Africa

The speech as delivered

Thank you, co-chairs and excellencies, all of you. May I call you champions for a healthier and more sustainable world.

It was an easy question, Dr. Birol, and I'd like to salute you. This is really leadership at the top level, cutting through bureaucratic talk and going for action. I think this is an excellent initiative. We need more of them.

And it's really combining the big picture, as I see it, as we deal with at summits and at COPs and other major events: talking about sustainable energy, reaching our climate objectives, are we on track? And then this very practical approach, how do we prepare our daily meals?

We all have to do that. And we have this shocking fact that cooking your daily meal is a dangerous thing for millions and millions of people. So, I believe this is a real opportunity. And you mentioned, Dr. Birol, all the different dimensions that come together. And I can subscribe to all of them.

I believe that this summit is about one of those problems where we can tell the world community ‘we can fix it!’ It is possible to deal with it while so many other issues are complex. It's the unique opportunity to prevent millions of premature deaths, to cut emissions, reduce biodiversity loss, and to improve productivity and create economic growth. But as you said, it's a gender issue. And it's really also about making life better for millions of women and children.

I came about this theme when I was working with Dr. Brundtland at the World Health Organization some 25 years ago. And we saw from the statistics that indoor air pollution is a prime cause of premature deaths for women and for children. And the image that has always stuck with me on visits to Africa is this: After a dangerous walk that can last for hours to get the fuel, is the caring mother with a young child on her back, leaning over the cooking gear that she has available. Both of them inhaling – the mother and the child – polluted air from the fumes of the firewood she has collected, as the mother is working hard to feed her family.

So, this, colleagues, is a solvable problem. So, when Dr. Birol raised it with me, it was an old engagement for me that this is not high tech. This is really low tech, available tech. And it's really about getting together finance, logistics and political will to move forward.

We know that this solution can transform lives. We've seen that it works in other parts of the world, especially in Asia. And so, the challenge here today is not to reinvent the wheel, but to make sure that such solutions, the technologies and the fuels reach African households.

And I also salute the President of Tanzania for being such a dignified voice on this. She paid a visit, official state visit to Norway some weeks ago, and we had the opportunity to raise this issue. And I'm very happy to be with you on this, Madam President. And then again, here at UNESCO, never before have so many leaders met to discuss clean cooking. So, I believe we have a big undertaking. We can now move forward and make a difference.

I also meet Dr. Birol in another capacity, and also the President of the African Development Bank with all his initiatives that are really making a difference, as co-chair of the Global Leadership Council of the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP).

I use every opportunity to underline the value of partnerships. We made a great partnership on vaccines 25 years ago, the GAVI Alliance that has brought vaccines to millions of children; really secured children under age of five from dying of diseases. And now we have to take that approach of partnership – which is not about seminars, but about real action – to governments, private companies, development partners, international organizations, philanthropies and civil society, and we can achieve more.

Norway will for its part continue to be a trusted partner for our friends in Africa. We have supported programs in many African countries on this issue, including Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Mozambique. We have worked and are working with the World Bank, the African Development Bank, private sector and civil society. And we are now also urging the energy companies that have skills and competence in this to come forward with technical solutions and also finance to support. 

I am pleased to announce today that Norway is committed to investing approximately 50 million US dollars to support clean cooking. And we are ready to continue to champion this cause, especially welcoming the private sector, and prime among them the energy companies to take part.

So dear friends, together we can make a difference on this issue – on this rainy day in Paris; it is sunny in Oslo and warm, I can tell you. It's an excellent start. Thank you for your attention. Thank you very much.