Access to clean energy, particularly for cooking, is a prerequisite for economic and social development in emerging countries. According to the IEA (International Energy Agency)⁽²⁾, 2.3 billion people in the world do not have access to it.

As the IEA points, access to cleaner cooking fuels, such as LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) helps:

• Improve people’s health thanks to better air quality, limiting the risk of respiratory complications and cardiovascular disease. Household air pollution is the second leading cause of premature death among women in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Reduce gender inequality by facilitating access to education, employment, entrepreneurship and, ultimately, financial independence for women. Clean cooking solutions represent a significant time-saver for people who would otherwise spend as much as 20 hours per week collecting wood for cooking purposes.
• Reduce CO₂ emissions and deforestation. Universal access to clean cooking solutions would result in emission savings of up to 1.5 billion tons of CO₂ equivalent by 2030 (of which 900 million tons in Africa) – equivalent to the CO₂ emissions produced by the air and maritime industries in 2022 or the deforestation of forests the size of Ireland each year.

In order to give 100 million people in Africa and India access to Clean Cooking by 2030, TotalEnergies will invest more than 400 M$ in the development of LPG for cooking (bottles storage and filling facilities). “Pay-as-you-cook” payment solutions have been launched to allow customers to pay only as the LPG bottle is used, instead of having to advance the entire value of the volume of the bottle.

TotalEnergies' ambition is to provide accessible energy to as many people as possible. The “Access to Energy” program, launched in 2011 by TotalEnergies, aims to bring a solar lighting solution to 25 million people without access to energy by 2025. This objective has been achieved a year ahead of schedule, since the end of 2024, 26 million people, particularly in Africa, had seen their quality of life improve thanks to the 5.7 million solar lamps distributed via our service station network, our distributors and partners, as well as the voluntary actions of the Company's branches.

During COP29, TotalEnergies, BP, Equinor and Shell decided to join forces to help address the challenges of energy access in Sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia by investing $500 million to support promising, high-impact projects, with the aim of helping millions of people in underserved communities, gain access to electricity and improved cooking conditions.

As the effects of global warming become more visible, nations, both developed and emerging, are now faced with the essential task of a large-scale transformation, particularly of their energy systems. Beyond the technological and financial challenges it poses, this transition process must be just if it is to succeed. It must provide the least developed countries with the clean, reliable and affordable energy they need for their growing populations aspiring to a higher standard of living.

The most developed nations, in turn, will need to assist those who could be adversely affected by that transition, should for example their job disappear or the cost of this transition put them in energy poverty.

TotalEnergies has also launched initiatives to support those who could find themselves in a difficult position as a result of this transition, for example because the cost of this transition would place them in a precarious situation energy-wise.

In France, TotalEnergies Electricité et Gaz has set up a number of initiatives to combat fuel poverty and help customers reduce their energy consumption, and therefore their energy bills, including the launch of programs like “Conso Master”, “Rendez-Vous solidaire” for customers in vulnerable situations.

In 2024, the Company also introduced a cap on fuel prices at the pump and maintained the price of its fixed gas offers for its retail Electricité & Gaz customers in France.