Colombia: More than six million people continue using firewood to cook

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A recent analysis by the Colombian Association of Natural Gas (Naturgas) indicates that even though natural gas service in Colombia has a penetration level close to 80%, around 1.2 million households (more than six million Colombians) continue to use firewood for cooking.

“According to the latest Quality of Life Survey developed by the Dane, the most critical region in firewood consumption is the Colombian Caribbean, with more than 500,000 active users,” said Luz Stella Murgas, president of Naturgas.

The association highlighted that the regions of the country that continue to cook with this fuel are the central zone, Antioquia, and the Eje Cafetero with more than 450,000 users; the eastern and pacific regions with 350,000 each; and the Orinoco and Amazon regions with close to 300,000 users.

Access to natural gas has been growing exponentially, as the country went from having 1.9 million users to over 10.4 million in recent years.

“With this data from Naturgas, we call on the candidates for the presidency of the Republic to address the socioeconomic benefits of natural gas as a clean fuel. This energy plays a key role in people’s quality of life, energy transition, and economic reactivation,” concluded Murgas.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the most harmful air pollutant to human health is fine particulate matter, which is the product of burning solids of vegetable origin, such as firewood.

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