Energy Corps today announced its role as a founding contributor to the Clean Cooking Accelerator Initiative, a new collaboration with the Clean Cooking Alliance, The Rockefeller Foundation, and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet designed to rapidly scale access to modern cooking solutions across Africa. The Initiative is structured to move clean cooking from ambition to implementation by translating national priorities into investment-ready project pipelines and implementation pathways. Energy Corps will mobilize private sector funding to strengthen supply chains, accelerate bankable projects, and build the necessary infrastructure.

The Initiative was announced during the High-Level Dialogue on Advancing Energy Access and Cooking Solutions as part of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) 2026 Ministerial alongside governments, international agencies, and philanthropic and nonprofit organizations, combining country delivery expertise, catalytic capital, and private-sector mobilization.

The U.S. Department of Energy has prioritized energy abundance, including identifying that the most urgent energy challenge on the planet today is access to clean cooking fuels. As part of this initiative, Energy Corps is focused on mobilizing private sector resources toward clean cooking supply chains.

“Energy access creates opportunity when it can scale,” said Toby Rice, Founder of Energy Corps. “Clean cooking is a fast way to deliver dignity, health, and economic opportunity. This Initiative is built to turn commitment into real projects, real infrastructure, and real access by mobilizing more capital. That’s how you get to scale.”

Energy Corps is funding this Initiative because it presents an ideal opportunity to mobilize private sector resources toward modern energy at scale. As a private sector mobilization partner within the Initiative, Energy Corps is committed to raising additional funds to expand the initial deployment.

Nearly one billion people across Africa still rely on polluting fuels for cooking, with severe consequences for health, productivity, and economic opportunity. Progress has often been constrained by fragmented delivery models, limited investment pipelines, and weak project design. The clean cooking solutions offered through this Initiative will replace polluting fuels like biomass, improve public health, and create economically durable pathways to affordable clean cooking access.

From Commitment to Delivery

Initial funding for the Initiative was provided by Energy Corps. The Initiative integrates three reinforcing elements – infrastructure-backed, investment-ready, and nationally owned pathways – to universal clean cooking access:

• Government-anchored delivery capacity, providing clean cooking expertise and support within national institutions to ensure ownership and execution.
  Coordinated investment and supply-chain mobilization, aligning public, philanthropic, and private capital with end-to-end market development.
• High-level accountability, sustaining momentum and focus at the highest levels of government and partners.

Energy Corps is providing an initial US$500,000 to the Initiative, which is structured to translate national ambition into delivery, beginning with strengthened country capacity and progressing toward investable project pipelines and scaled market deployment through two phases:

Phase 1 – Focusing on strengthening national capacity and country delivery capacity:

• Supporting dedicated Clean Cooking Fellows, deployed through the Mission 300 Fellowship program, to support governments in advancing policy reforms, strengthening institutional capacity, and shaping early-stage project pipelines. Fellows will receive structured training, analytical support, and curated tools from the Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA), alongside technical engagement through the U.S. Department of Energy’s “Ask an Expert” program and National Laboratories.
• Aligning policy, regulatory, and institutional actions to directly support project development and investment readiness, including coordination with the Global Energy Alliance’s support to enable African governments to embed multi-year expertise and planning capacity that facilitates long-term sustainability.
• Supporting governments in refining clean cooking milestones and implementation pathways aligned with national energy compacts.

Phase 2 – Requiring additional funders and investors, will focus on mobilizing investment and scaling delivery:

• Aligning philanthropic, public, and private capital around national clean cooking project pipelines.
• Supporting the establishment and strengthening of Clean Cooking Delivery Units to coordinate and fast-track priority projects toward bankability.
• Accelerating existing projects while identifying new opportunities to expand household, institutional, and commercial access.
• Expanding fuel, appliance, and distribution supply chains.
• Advancing enabling infrastructure to support demand growth.

“Governments are asking for partners who can help them move faster,” said Tisha Schuller, Head of Energy Corps. “Energy Corps exists to meet this moment. This Initiative is a demonstration of how we operate. We partner to mobilize private-sector resources to deliver on-the-ground experts with an emphasis on pragmatic execution and durable success.”

“We started Energy Corps because access to energy is fundamental to health, opportunity, and economic growth. Too many communities are still left behind,” said Aileen Rice of Energy Corps.

“Energy Corps brings a powerful model for mobilizing energy-sector philanthropy and investment in ways that are practical and delivery-focused,” said Dymphna van der Lans, Clean Cooking Alliance CEO. “By partnering together, we can help ensure that private-sector capital, expertise, and partnerships are aligned with country priorities and translate into real progress on clean cooking.”

“Clean cooking is central to advancing universal energy access,” said Andrew Herscowitz, CEO of the Mission 300 Accelerator. “Achieving universal access to modern cooking solutions will require building the right enabling conditions for sustained private investment. Through the Clean Cooking Accelerator Initiative and Mission 300, we are working alongside governments to strengthen delivery systems, refine investment pathways, and deploy catalytic resources that unlock long-term capital at scale.”

“The Global Energy Alliance has seen firsthand how modern cooking solutions can transform lives and unlock economic opportunity,” said Woochong Um, CEO of the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet. “Through our work supporting government-led Energy Compacts, embedding delivery capacity through Mission 300 and supporting enterprises that deploy clean cooking solutions, we've seen that sustained progress requires coordinated effort across public, private, and philanthropic partners. Energy Corps is contributing private-sector expertise to this broader collaboration, helping support the translation of national priorities into practical, on-the-ground solutions.”

Energy Corps is grateful to its funders. Founding funds are provided by Aileen and Toby Rice, Boardwalk Pipeline, RF Catalytic Capital, a charitable spinoff of The Rockefeller Foundation, Spotlight Energy, and the Meredith and Mike Howard Family Foundation.

About Energy Corps

Energy Corps is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization accelerating access to affordable, reliable energy worldwide. Energy Corps advances modern energy at scale by unlocking policy bottlenecks, mobilizing large-scale finance, and creating durable demand — helping move communities from energy poverty to energy prosperity. Learn more at energycorps.com.

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