Cooking Gas Crisis Across Asia Forces Millions Back to Toxic Fuels, Threatening Public Health

In a south Delhi slum, 35-year-old Afshana Khatoon spends six hours each day trudging through urban forests in temperatures exceeding 40°C, collecting firewood to cook for her four children. Until recently, she cooked on a gas stove. The ongoing conflict in the Middle East has changed that — and she is far from alone.

Across Asia, a sharp contraction in liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) supplies — choked by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz amid the Iran-US conflict — is forcing millions of low-income families to abandon cleaner cooking fuels in favour of firewood, coal, and charcoal. Public health experts warn the consequences could be severe and lasting.

Supply Collapse and Soaring Prices

India imports approximately 60% of its LPG needs, with around 90% of those supplies transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Official data shows the country’s LPG consumption fell by 2.2 million tonnes in April — the steepest decline in years. India’s defence minister has acknowledged the country holds petroleum gas reserves sufficient for just 45 days.

In informal markets, prices have surged well beyond the reach of low-income households. Khatoon’s family, surviving on 400 to 500 rupees a day, can no longer afford the 1,000 rupees now required for a week’s worth of cooking gas — a cost that has more than quadrupled. Her empty 5kg gas canister sits unused in the corner of her home.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while insisting publicly that no shortage exists, called this week on citizens to adopt austerity measures including limiting fuel consumption. The contradiction has not gone unnoticed.

A Parallel Crisis in the Philippines

The Philippines faces an almost identical situation. The country depends on the Strait of Hormuz for 90% of its LPG imports, and prices for a small tank have tripled to approximately 600 Philippine pesos (around $9.80).

In Aroma, Tondo — one of Manila’s poorest neighbourhoods — 25-year-old Josephine Songalia now cooks on a charcoal stove costing just 10 pesos per use. She instructs her children to keep their distance from the fumes. “I worry the smoke could harm my lungs and make me sick,” she said, “but I push those thoughts aside because I have to do this so my kids can eat.”

National LPG consumption in the Philippines has dropped 30% compared with the same period last year. The government has suspended excise taxes on LPG and paraffin for three months in an attempt to ease the burden, but analysts say the measure falls short of addressing structural affordability.

The Public Health Toll

The shift back to solid fuels carries well-documented health consequences. Wood, charcoal, and coal emit fine particulate matter and toxic gases linked to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, stroke, and heart disease.

The World Health Organization estimates that combined ambient and household air pollution causes 6.7 million premature deaths annually. Women and children — who bear the primary burden of cooking and fuel collection — face the greatest exposure.

“When prices rise, it’s the poorest who are forced to switch back to biomass,” said Harjeet Singh, founding director of the Satat Sampada Climate Foundation. “Biomass burning is a major source of fine particulate pollution. In dense urban areas, the impact is even more severe because of how closely people live and how poorly ventilated these spaces are.”

In Manila, Mylene G. Cayetano, professor of environmental science and meteorology at the University of the Philippines Diliman, warned that “air pollution indoors will be proliferating.” She described charcoal production itself as a “very dirty process,” generating ash and smoke that devastates riverside and coastal communities where it is predominantly manufactured.

A Decade of Progress at Risk

Over the past decade, the Indian government distributed more than 100 million subsidised cooking gas canisters as part of a sustained push to reduce dependence on biomass fuels. Delhi, consistently ranked among the world’s most polluted cities, had made measurable gains through policies promoting LPG and compressed natural gas. Authorities have now temporarily relaxed restrictions on coal and firewood use — effectively reversing that trajectory.

The crisis has exposed what Singh describes as a foundational flaw in the energy transition model: access to cleaner fuels did not guarantee their affordability. The subsidised gas cylinder, he said, has become “a symbol of a transition they can no longer afford to sustain.”

‘What Choice Do I Have?’

Back in the Delhi slum, as evening falls and firewood stoves are lit for dinner, Shanti, 75, struggles for breath. Diagnosed with a chronic lung condition, she has been cooking on firewood for two months. A doctor advised her to avoid smoke.

“But what choice do I have?” she said, coughing. “My health is getting worse but I need to eat.”