Climate Facts: Clean cooking could save 4.7 million lives in Africa by 2040, says IEA

The complexities of climate change and its associated jargon can prove difficult to digest.

TheCable’s quick climate facts will help demystify these concepts through easy-to-understand and straight-to-the-point explanations.

Here are some to keep at the tip of your fingers:

• A new report released by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) says plastic pollution alters the physical, chemical, and microbiological properties of the soil.

• The report noted that these changes affect soil structure, water retention, nutrient cycles, and microbial communities, thereby posing risks to plant health, crop yields, and food quality.

• The International Energy Agency (IEA) says about 70 percent of methane emissions from the fossil fuel sector could be avoided with existing technologies, often at a low cost.

• The IEA noted that up to 35 million tonnes of methane emissions from oil, gas, and coal could have been cut at no net cost in 2024, as the value of the captured gas outweighs the cost of reducing it.

• The organisation said up to 4.7 million lives could be saved in Africa by 2040 from cleaner cooking.

• It added that lack of clean cooking contributes to 815,000 premature deaths annually and significant deforestation globally.