⁍ A global failure to provide about 4 billion people with access to clean, safe and affordable ways of cooking is costing $2.4 trillion a year in damage to health, the climate and local economies, new figures show.

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⁍ Women bear the brunt of preparing food using harmful and polluting fuels.

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⁍ The bulk of the cost of dirty cooking – $1.4 trillion per year – comes from the health impacts of using smoky, high-emitting fuels such as wood, kerosene, charcoal and dung.

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– About half of the world’s population doesn’t have access to clean, safe, and affordable ways to cook their food—and that’s costing the world a lot of money in health, the climate, and local economies, Reuters reports. According to a World Bank report released this week, the 3 billion people using dirty fuels (think wood, kerosene, charcoal, and dung) cause about 4 million premature deaths each year, mostly among women and children, as well as damaging the climate and local economies. “Women bear a disproportionate share of this cost in the form of poor health and safety, as well as lost productivity,” the World Bank’s vice president for infrastructure says. The report estimates that the health costs of dirty cooking amount to $1.4 trillion a year, with the bulk of that—$1.4 trillion—coming from illnesses linked to cooking on open fires and inefficient stoves. Previous estimates put the number of people using dirty fuels at close to 3 billion, but the World Bank says that figure overlooked the fact that some families had access to cleaner methods like gas yet still mainly used traditional fuels like charcoal. Sub-Saharan Africa has the smallest share of people using modern sources of energy for cooking, at 10%, followed by 21% in Southeast Asia, and 27% in South Asia. The World Bank estimates $150 billion is needed to reach universal access to cooking services by 2030.