Global LEAP Awards Announces 2025 Induction Cooktop Competition Winners and Launches New Buyer’s Guide

Today, at the Talk Series on Modern Energy Cooking, the Global LEAP Awards released the 2025 Buyer’s Guide for Induction Cooktops, a new tool to help governments, manufacturers, and consumers identify high-quality, energy-efficient cookers.

The guide follows the successful completion of the 2024–2025 Induction Cooktops Competition, which tested leading products for safety, performance, and everyday use.

Over  2 billion people worldwide still cook with polluting fuels like firewood and charcoal. Induction cooktops are a cleaner and safer alternative that help reduce health risks, ease the burden on women and girls, and cut carbon emissions.

“There’s still a lot of scepticism around electric cooking. Can it really handle our traditional meals? This competition shows with the right design, induction cooktops not only cook efficiently, but also preserve the taste we know and love. Working with everyday cooks has been deeply rewarding. Their lived experience is often overlooked but essential for a just transition to clean cooking. We hope these results help unlock investment and drive innovation toward appliances that truly work for people and the planet,” said Nyamolo Abagi, Efficiency for Access, Director of Clean Energy Access at CLASP.

The competition evaluated 11 induction cooktops from seven companies through rigorous lab and user testing in Kenya and India. Four products emerged as winners:

• Best Overall Product: EPACK Durable SLIM TMDN for demonstrating the strongest balance of technical performance, user experience, and affordability.

• Consumer’s Choice Award: BURN ECOA Induction Cooker (IDC) A81 for its ease of use, intuitive design, and suitability for preparing a wide range of local dishes.

• Highest Performance Award: Tefal IH201840 for achieving the best results in laboratory testing for energy efficiency and cooking speed.
• Special Mention Award: Prestige PDIC 3.0 for its strong performance and versatility, and being the only double burner, allowing users to cook multiple dishes at once and save time.

“This competition challenges us to raise the bar. The testing and standards give customers confidence, and the user feedback pushes us to build a cooktop that truly meets local needs,” said Mr. Ajay DD Singhania, MD & CEO of EPACK Durable Limited, winner of the Best Overall Product category.

The 2025 Buyer’s Guide is part of a broader effort by the Efficiency for Access coalition to expand the market for high-performing appliances in energy-constrained settings. It offers comprehensive data on product safety, efficiency, and usability, information that is often missing in emerging markets. It also supports better policies and programs for clean cooking.

“Electric cooking on energy efficient appliances is a catalyst for transforming energy access and improving quality of life. Our partnership with the Global LEAP Awards brings that into focus through real-world examples. By showcasing high-performance cooktops, we’re opening doors for the users to access the benefits of modern energy services. Those open doors also lead to improved justification of expanding electrical access for investors, utilities, and government, by creating steady predictable demand for electricity with higher revenue and returns,” said Dr Simon Batchelor OBE, Research Coordinator, Modern Energy Cooking Services Program (MECS).

The 2024–2025 Induction Cooktops Competition was administered by CLASP with support of its data collection partners, Finovista in India and the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) in Kenya. The competition is funded by the IKEA Foundation and UK aid from the UK government via the Transforming Energy Access platform.

Read the  2025 Buyer’s Guide for Induction Cooktops.

About Efficiency for Access

Efficiency for Access is a global coalition to accelerate clean energy access through affordable, high-performing, and inclusive appliances. It is co-managed by CLASP and Energy Saving Trust.