Can Natural Resource Endowment and Human Capital Development Drive Clean Cooking Transition in Sub-Saharan African Countries?

Despite the natural resource wealth and human capital development efforts in sub-Saharan African (SSA) nations, poor access to efficient cooking options persist. Hence, this study examined the role of natural resource wealth and human capital development in driving clean cooking fuel and technology transition in 37 SSA countries. Data spanning from 2000 to 2023 was used and analysed through the method of moment quantile regression estimation technique. A novelty of the study is the explicit disaggregation of the effects into three levels including the aggregate, urban, and rural impacts for comparison. Findings from the study revealed that while natural resource endowment and human capital positively enhanced access to efficient cooking energy, the impact of human capital development is more pronounced. However, the effect of the interaction between natural resource wealth and human capital on access to efficient cooking options was significantly adverse at divergent levels in the three estimates. Also, the moderating role of income was found to weakly impact on clean cooking fuel in the aggregate and urban outcomes, but was substantial and negative in predicting efficient cooking means in the rural estimate. Conversely, population growth negatively impacted clean cooking options in the aggregate and urban estimates, while its effect was positive in the rural output. Thus, drawing from the aforesaid findings, policy measures to promote the transitioning from dirty cooking energy to efficient modern means were proposed in the study. JEL Classification: I31, N57, O18.