West Asia Energy Crisis Triggers Surge in Fuelwood Demand Across India

Fuelwood godowns across India are reporting a surge in demand as the West Asia conflict drives LPG shortages and price spikes, with households in states including Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Kerala reverting to solid biomass for cooking after years of using LPG. The crisis is exposing a multi-billion dollar informal energy market that policy has long sought to replace.

The disruption to LPG supply chains following the escalation of conflict in West Asia has triggered a visible return to fuelwood use across India, including in urban areas where biomass cooking was considered largely replaced by clean fuel. Fuelwood markets on city outskirts are reporting unusual footfall as households seek alternatives to unavailable or unaffordable LPG cylinders. In Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Kerala, fuelwood demand has risen sharply among households that had previously switched to LPG under the Ujjwala scheme.

The reversion to fuelwood cooking represents a setback for India's clean cooking transition, raising emissions of black carbon, particulate matter and carbon dioxide from residential cooking sources. Women bear the primary burden of fuelwood collection and exposure to indoor air pollution from biomass combustion, with established links to respiratory disease, maternal health outcomes and time poverty. The crisis has made visible the scale of India's latent fuelwood economy, which persists as a shadow market beneath the surface of official clean energy statistics.

The fuelwood surge reinforces arguments made by energy access researchers: that clean cooking transitions are fragile when they depend on imported fossil fuels whose price and availability are subject to geopolitical disruption. Local renewable alternatives — biogas plants, improved cookstoves using agricultural residue, or electric cooking enabled by solar — could provide greater resilience. Policymakers are under pressure to reassess the clean cooking strategy and design more energy-secure solutions for rural and peri-urban households.

Key figure — 21 states and UTs where LPG shortage prompted government reintroduction of PDS kerosene