Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) was launched in 2018 to find innovative and modern cooking alternatives to biomass fuels, such as charcoal and wood, that are clean, affordable, reliable, and sustainable. 

Currently, over a third of the world’s population cook using these polluting fuels, leading to poor air quality and around four million premature deaths each year – primarily among women and children. Using charcoal and wood to cook also has a significant impact on climate change, contributing three per cent to global CO2 emissions every year. 

The additional funding from UK AID (the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) announced today at COP29 by the UK Minister for Development Anneliese Dodds, will provide a five-year extension to the MECS programme and takes the total investment in MECS to £99 million. 

It will enable the team to continue its mission to support 10 million people across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Indo-Pacific to leave coal and wood cooking behind. Instead, it will champion the use of affordable low carbon cooking alternatives, such as highly efficient electric cooking appliances. 

Speaking about the additional funding MECS will receive, Professor Daniel Parsons, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation said: “I am delighted with the announcement at COP29 today, and the confidence that the UK Government has shown in making this substantial funding awarding to the team here in Loughborough, led by Professor Ed Brown. 

“We are incredibly proud of the programme and the global impact it is having in addressing climate change and the transition to a net zero future. International leadership by the UK in delivering a net zero transition is vital and I am delighted that Loughborough is playing a key role in this endeavour.” 

Dr Simon Batchelor OBE, Research Coordinator for MECS, commented: “This package not only enables our work at MECS on energy efficient modern cooking to continue, but it's designed to expand and explore new innovative approaches in creating affordable options for all, to ensure modern energy cooking services are increasingly based on renewable energy, and to use carbon and other finance mechanisms to accelerate scaled uptake. The team are excited to engage to this global challenge and contribute alongside our many partners.”   

MECS works in partnership with the Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme (ESMAP) of the World Bank and will be joined by CLASP under the extension. It is led by Loughborough's Sustainable Transitions: Energy, Environment and Resilience Centre (STEER), a multi-million-pound research centre based in Loughborough’s School of Social Sciences and Humanities that empowers vulnerable populations to shape and benefit from the transition to sustainable energy.