THE CHARCOAL TRANSITION Greening the charcoal value chain to mitigate climate change and improve local livelihoods THE CHARCOAL TRANSITION Greening the charcoal value chain to mitigate climate change and improve local livelihoods FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome, 2017 Recommended citation: FAO. 2017. The charcoal transition: greening the charcoal value chain to mitigate climate change and improve local livelihoods, by J. van Dam. Rome, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Cover photo: © CIFOR/M.Edliadi The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. 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FAO information products are available on the FAO website (www.fao.org/publications) and can be purchased through [email protected]. iii Contents Foreword ..................................................................................................................viii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................. ix Acronyms and abbreviations ..................................................................................... x Executive summary ............................................................................................ 1 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................11 1.1 Objective of this publication ............................................................................ 12 1.2 Methodology .................................................................................................... 12 1.3 Structure of this publication ............................................................................ 13 2 Charcoal production practices, consumption and impacts .......................17 2.1 Global trends in charcoal production and consumption ............................... 17 2.2 Production practices and technologies in the charcoal value chain ............. 23 2.3 The sustainability of the charcoal value chain: a quick assessment .............. 29 3 Greenhouse gas emissions in the charcoal value chain ........................... 37 3.1 Methodology for estimating emissions in the charcoal value chain ............. 38 3.2 Estimating the climate impacts of the full value chain .................................. 40 3.3 Emissions from sourcing wood in the charcoal value chain ........................... 42 3.4 Emissions from carbonization .......................................................................... 47 3.5 Emissions in transportation and distribution ................................................. 49 3.6 Emissions from end use .................................................................................... 50 3.7 Overview of greenhouse gas emissions in the charcoal value chain ............ 53 4 Technical interventions for a greener charcoal value chain ..................... 57 4.1 Sourcing wood for charcoal ............................................................................. 58 4.2 Carbonization ................................................................................................... 68 4.3 Transportation .................................................................................................. 73 4.4 End use .............................................................................................................. 73 4.5 The technological potential for climate-change mitigation through improvements in the charcoal value chain ....................................... 76 iv 5 Costs and benefits of greening the charcoal value chain .........................81 5.1 Cost and benefits of the charcoal value chain, business as usual ................. 82 5.2 Costs and benefits of interventions to green the charcoal value chain ....... 87 5.3 National-level costs and benefits of greening the charcoal value chain ...... 92 6 Policy options towards a climate-smart charcoal sector .......................... 95 6.1 Barriers and options for policy, legal, institutional and regulatory frameworks .................................................................................... 97 6.2 Barriers and options for planning and decision-making processes ............ 105 6.3 Barriers and options for implementation, enforcement and compliance .... 108 7 Conclusions and recommendations ..........................................................115 Bibliography ....................................................................................................121 Annex A Information on charcoal production and sustainability .......................................... 139 Annex B Information on kiln and stove efficiencies ................................................................ 145 Annex C Information on greenhouse gas emissions in the charcoal value chain ...................151 Annex D Information on socio-economic characteristics of the charcoal value chain ...........161 Annex E Case studies and lessons learned ............................................................................... 167 v Tables S1 Technical interventions for cleaner and more efficient charcoal production and use ............................................................................ 4 1 Kiln types and efficiencies found in the literature ....................................... 27 2 Global warming potential of various greenhouse gases ............................. 38 3 CO2 emissions (only) from wood energy compared with total emissions, 2010, by region ..................................................................... 41 4 Estimated greenhouse gas emissions from charcoal production used in various studies in the literature ....................................................... 41 5 Estimates of forest area needed to meet a charcoal demand of 68 500 tonnes in Kenya, various biomass stocking rates and two levels of kiln efficiency .................................................................... 44 6 Emission factors for charcoal carbonization .................................................. 48 7 Minimum, average and maximum emission values for carbonization ........ 49 8 Average, minimum and maximum ranges of cook-stove efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions obtained from the literature ...................... 51 9 Total greenhouse gas emissions for various cooking options and bioenergy sources ............................................................................................ 52 10 Greenhouse gas emissions from various cooking options ............................ 53 11 Modelled estimates of greenhouse gas emissions in the four main steps in the charcoal value chain .................................................. 53 12 Technical interventions for cleaner and more efficient charcoal production ........................................................................................ 58 13 Resulting carbon stock emission reductions from charcoal production relative to the baseline scenario after 30 years of management ................ 60 14 Key characteristics of species selected for plantations for charcoal production ....................................................................................................... 62 15 Global warming potential over the life cycle of the quantity of charcoal briquettes, charcoal and kerosene required to cook a standard traditional meal in Kenya ............................................................ 67 16 Factors influencing the adoption of improved kilns ..................................... 69 17 Determinants of choice of fuel and stove ..................................................... 74 18 Quantity of woodfuel needed to generate energy equivalent to that produced by 1 kg of liquified petroleum gas, by conversion and combustion technology ........................................................................... 75 19 Overview of impact categories from interventions at different stages of the charcoal value chain ................................................................. 76 vi 20 Summary of scenario parameters used to model estimates of potential greenhouse gas emission reductions in a green