'I can't afford cooking gas,' shutdown of Kenya's Koko biofuel firm wipes out clean cooking options

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — It was designed to be as simple as buying airtime: a quick tap on the dispenser, a few shillings and a cooking canister refilled. Now, more than 3,000 Koko fuel supply points across Kenya sit idle, with no fuel and no clear answers for the households that relied on them.

For more than a decade, Koko Networks helped shift over 1.5 million Kenyan homes without access to public gas systems away from smoky charcoal stoves to bioethanol, marketed as a cleaner, modern way to cook. The steady blue flame became a symbol of Kenya’s push toward cleaner household energy.

That promise has dimmed.

After failing to win government letter of authorization that would allow them to sell carbon credits — permits that allow holders to emit certain amount of greenhouse gases — Koko abruptly shut down its fuel distribution network, bringing to a halt a model once hailed as a poster child of Africa's green transition.

In Kibera, Nairobi’s largest informal settlement, most Koko Networks outlets have closed, and some have removed the bioethanol dispensers altogether. Since 2014, Koko had imported bioethanol products. That ended abruptly in 2023 when the government withheld its import permit, forcing Koko to use local sources that were erratic and more expensive.

That reality is setting in for Fredrick Onchenge. He used to serve up to 50 Koko customers a day. Now his machines are silent.

“Initially, I was confused,” Onchenge said. “Then it dawned on me what had just happened. My livelihood was gone. I tried calling the salesperson, but their phone was switched off.”

For many customers, their access ended with a text message announcing the shutdown. Kitchens that once cooked meals without smoke now have idle double-burner stoves — reminders of a system that stopped overnight.

Grace Kathambi is weighing her options.

“This was a life changer for me,” Kathambi said. “I could not afford the $8 needed to refill a gas cylinder, and Koko was my best alternative. With about 30 U.S. cents, I could buy enough Koko fuel to cook.”

With the bioethanol supply cut off, households like hers must now choose between returning to charcoal or finding money for more expensive liquefied petroleum gas.

“I cannot afford to use gas,” said Margaret Auma. “Koko made life very easy for those of us who earn little from casual jobs. We feel abandoned, yet it’s not our fault.”

For weeks, Koko and the Kenyan government haggled over a crucial letter authorizing carbon credits and import permits for bioethanol made from molasses, a sugarcane by-product. The company needed those approvals to unlock millions of dollars in international financing that helped keep fuel prices low. Kenyan authorities held back, citing broader concerns about the credibility of carbon credits.

Koko — which counted the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, and South Africa’s Rand Merchant Bank as its investors, announced on Jan. 30 that without the approvals its business model was financially unsustainable and it was shutting down.

“Koko’s case is uniquely multidimensional,” said David Ndii, Kenya’s presidential advisor on economic affairs. Ndii cited issues including the Paris Agreement framework, questions around the credibility of cookstove carbon credits, Kenya’s climate policies, carbon market regulations, the transparency of Koko’s business model and diplomatic considerations.

He dismissed the prospect of state intervention, saying, “Even good doctors lose patients.”

Kenya's energy and treasury officials have declined to comment on the closure, which energy analysts say exposes weaknesses in how clean cooking is financed across Africa.

“The clean cooking situation in Kenya, and across Africa is a serious crisis,” said Amos Wemanya, a senior analyst on renewable energy at Power Shift Africa. “This is not just about emissions or climate targets. It is about development, health, dignity and household survival.”

Wemanya said models heavily reliant on carbon credits risk prioritizing markets over people.

“We are not going to solve the clean cooking challenge through carbon math or carbon credit spreadsheets,” he said. “Carbon markets allow polluters to continue emitting while households, who are supposed to be the beneficiaries, still pay for the stoves and bear the risks when projects fail.”

When such systems collapse, he added, it is households that suffer most.

“They are the ones forced to revert to harmful alternatives like charcoal and paraffin,” Wemanya said.

He said the Koko episode shows the priority should shift toward affordable electricity, especially in rural areas.

“Clean cooking will not be solved through carbon credits,” he said. “The reality is that gas-based solutions were never a long-term climate solution. They simply shift households from firewood to imported fossil fuels. So, the bigger lesson here is that we need to move toward systems that truly work, primarily electricity powered by renewable energy.”

For now, households like Auma’s must now choose between returning to charcoal or finding money for more expensive LPG.

“What are we supposed to do? Go back to using charcoal in our one-room houses?” Auma asked. “That is the smoke and sickness we were trying to escape.”

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Amos Wemanya, senior climate advisor at Power Shift Africa, poses for a photo during an interview with The Associated Press in Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/ÅSA WALLIN)

Laurine Akhutu, a KOKO Cooker bioethanol fuel vendor, arranges fuel bottles at her shop in the Kibera informal settlement on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Atieno Muyuyi)

George Onsere, a KOKO Cooker bioethanol fuel vendor, poses for a photo outside his shop in the Kibera informal settlement on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Atieno Muyuyi)

A KOKO Cooker bioethanol fuel distribution booth with out of stock fuel is seen in the Kibera informal settlement on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Atieno Muyuyi)

Grace Kathambi uses a KOKO Cooker bioethanol fuel stove to fry and sell French fries at her shop in the Kibera informal settlement on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Atieno Muyuyi)

MILAN (AP) — An unprecedented four-site, dual-cauldron Winter Olympics opening ceremony replete with references to Italian icons and culture — plus American pop diva Mariah Carey — was scheduled to officially start the Milan Cortina Games on Friday as the sports spectacle returns to a nation that last hosted the event 20 years ago.

This is the most spread-out Olympics — Summer or Winter — in history, with competition venues dotting an area of about 8,500 square miles (more than 22,000 square kilometers), roughly the size of the entire state of New Jersey.

The main hub Friday is in Milan at San Siro soccer stadium, which is home to Serie A titans AC Milan and Inter Milan, opened a century ago and is due to be razed and replaced in the next few years. There also will be three other places where athletes can march, some carrying their country's flag: Cortina d'Ampezzo in the heart of the Dolomite mountains; Livigno in the Alps; Predazzo in the autonomous province of Trento.

That allows up-in-the-mountains sports such as Alpine skiing, bobsled, curling and snowboarding to be represented in the Parade of Nations without needing to make the several-hours-long trek to Milan, the country's financial capital, and back.

For good measure, the Feb. 22 closing ceremony will be held in yet another locale, Verona, where Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” was set.

Another symbol of how far-flung things are this time: Instead of the usual one cauldron that is lit and burns throughout the Olympics, there will be two, both intended as an homage to Leonardo da Vinci’s geometric studies. One is in Milan, 2½ miles (4 kilometers) from San Siro, and the other is going to be 250 miles (400 kilometers) away in Cortina.

The people given the honor of lighting both was a closely guarded secret, as is usually the case at any Olympics. At the Turin Winter Games in 2006, it was Italian cross-country skier Stefania Belmondo.

Other links to Italy's heritage scheduled to be a part of Friday's festivities include a performance by tenor Andrea Bocelli; classically trained dancers from the academy of the famed Milan opera house, Teatro alla Scala; a tribute to the late fashion designer Giorgio Armani, who died last year at 91. Armani designed the Olympic and Paralympic uniforms for the Italian national team for decades, and was a personal friend of the former president of the Italian National Olympic Committee, Giovanni Malagò.

Plenty more planned for Friday was being kept under wraps by organizers who said they sought to convey themes of harmony and peace, seeking to represent the city-mountain dichotomy of the particularly unusual setup for these Olympics while also trying to appeal to a sense of unity at a time of global tensions.

Another unknown: What sort of reception would greet U.S. Vice President JD Vance when he attended the ceremony in Milan? And what about the American athletes?

When new International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry was asked this week what sort of greeting the U.S. delegation would get when they enter San Siro in the Parade of Nations, she replied: “I hope the opening ceremony is seen by everyone as an opportunity to be respectful.”

Associated Press writer Colleen Barry contributed to this report.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

USA's Matthew Greiner slides down the track during a men's Luge training session at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Workers drive a golf buggy outside a compound next to the San Siro Stadium during rehearsals for the opening ceremony of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, at , in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

United States' Erin Jackson warms up during a speedskating training session at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)