Can natural resource endowment and human capital development drive clean cooking transition in sub-Saharan African countries?

Abstract

This study examines the role of natural resource rent and human capital development in driving the transition to clean cooking fuel and technology in 37 Sub-Saharan African countries. Data spanning from 2000 to 2023 were used and analysed using the method of moment quantile regression technique. A key novelty of the study is the explicit disaggregation of the effects into three levels—aggregate, urban, and rural—for comparison. Findings reveal that while natural resource endowment and human capital positively enhance access to efficient cooking energy, the impact of human capital development is more pronounced in the three estimates. However, both effects were more overwhelming in the urban than the aggregate and rural estimates. Also, the natural resource rent-human capital interplay was significantly adverse, but marginally worsened aggregate access to clean cooking options in the low-to middle-intense category. Although same negative impact was observed in the urban and rural outcomes, the effect was relatively constant at all access levels in the urban, and only substantial in the middle- and high-tense levels in the rural estimate. The study proposes policy measures to facilitate the transition from traditional cooking energy sources to efficient modern alternatives.