Behavioral Solutions for the Clean Cooking Transition: Linking Energy-Efficient Cooking Habits and the Shift to Modern Stoves

Despite the benefits of transitioning to cleaner cooking technologies, burning highly polluting fuels on traditional cookstoves is still common amongst 2.3 billion people globally (IEA, 2023). The adoption of modern stoves is not the only barrier to this transition, since households with access to cleaner technologies still commonly use traditional stoves alongside these. One reason for this ‘stove stacking’ is that modern cooking technologies are often considered incompatible with established cooking practices. As well as being normal, such practices may be habitual, making change difficult and potentially unappealing. This paper asks whether behavioral insights can help to better align cooking practices with the capabilities of modern stoves, using a randomized control trial in Rwanda. Based on a behavioral model of the clean cooking transition, the intervention seeks to instill a new cooking habit – pre-soaking beans before cooking them – amongst groups of participants. It targets participant attitudes, bean cooking norms and perceived behavioral control, as well as using contextual cues to encourage repetition of the behavior over time. Results point to the successful formation of the new habit and to lower cook times on traditional stoves on days beans are cooked. Notably, the intervention also positively affects attitudes about the suitability of modern stoves for bean cooking and increases participants’ aspirations and expectations to purchase these devices. Results manifest through the intermediate variables modeled in our theoretical framework; attitudes, norms, and perceived behavioral control; as well as occurring sequentially through one another along the theory of change.