Rockefeller Pitches Clean Cooking to Curb School Meal Emissions

Sep 14 , 2025

A recent study has revealed the staggering environmental toll of school feeding programs. A single school serving 400 students can burn through the equivalent of 56 hectares of forest each year to fuel cooking. The Rockefeller Foundation flagged the health risks too, with most cooks, predominantly women, breathing smoke levels ten times higher than the World Health Organisation’s safe limit. "If every school meal transitioned to clean cooking with electricity and solar, the emissions saved would equal those from the entire global aviation sector," said Kagwiria Koome, who leads the foundation's food team. Switching, however, comes at a price. Solar batteries needed to power a school of 400 cost around 5,000 dollars. Yet nearly 90pc of cooks still rely on biomass, making the case for change urgent. Koome argued that clean cooking could deliver more than health and climate benefits. Carbon credits, she said, could fund upfront infrastructure and even cover the cost of school meals.