Access to clean energy, particularly for cooking, is a prerequisite for economic and social development in emerging countries. Today, 2.1 billion people in the world⁽⁶⁾ do not have access to it.

As the IEA points out, 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 pay for the value of the entire bottle content upfront.

TotalEnergies’ mission is to deliver energy that is more reliable, more affordable, more sustainable and accessible to the greatest number of people. The “Access to Energy” program, launched in 2011 by TotalEnergies, aimed 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. This endeavour continues notably by assisting populations impacted by extreme weather events (e.g., Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica) as well as by proposing solar streetlights.

In 2024, on the occasion of COP29, we announced that we would join forces with BP, Equinor and Shell to support energy access in sub-Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia. With $500 m in capital, this joint investment seeks to support high-impact projects aiming to help 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 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 Électricité et Gaz has set up a number of initiatives to combat fuel poverty and help customers reduce their energy consumption, and therefore their energy bill, including the launch of the “Tous acteurs” for the 2025-2026 winter season, “Zoom conso”, and the “Rendez-vous solidaire” initiatives for customers in vulnerable situations.

TotalEnergies announced in April 2026 the continuation of its initiative to cap fuel prices at all 3,300 TotalEnergies gas stations across France for as long as the crisis in the Middle East persists. In addition, throughout 2026, all TotalEnergies residential electricity and gas customers in France can benefit from a price cap of €1.99 per liter on all fuels at the pump.