Banker Turned Changemaker Solving the Wicked Problem of Charcoal for Cooking

The use of charcoal for cooking in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia is one such wicked problem affecting the health, environment, and economic future of billions. Fortunately, equally comprehensive solutions are being developed.

In this piece, I interviewed banker turned changemaker, Sylvia Herzog of The Charcoal Project, an aggregation of volunteer experts focused on tackling this wicked problem by combining technology, social sciences, and empathy towards users.

The use of charcoal for cooking is a problem that afflicts nearly 3 billion people with grave economic, humanitarian, and climate impact. Can you tell us more about this issue?

The use of charcoal for cooking is a significant problem that affects a large portion of the global population, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Charcoal is typically favored by city dwellers because of its convenience and relative low costs compared to other fuels, so increased urbanization and population growth has exacerbated its use. While using charcoal can have negative health effects, it is cleaner burning than wood so preferred in urban environments where cooking out of doors is more limited. Many cultures prefer the taste of food cooked with charcoal, so that adds to the resistance to switch to other types of fuels.

Charcoal is made from harvested trees that have been burned in a low oxygen environment, which is a process that releases greenhouse gases and other pollutants. Charcoal is generally produced in the informal sector, so production methods and techniques may not be efficient, causing more deforestation than necessary. Increased demand for charcoal is putting unsustainable pressure on forests leading to forest degradation and devastating consequences for the environment and for communities that rely on these ecosystems.

Charcoal is at the nexus of energy poverty, health, environment, cultural and economic growth issues so solutions need to take all these factors into account. It is a large part of people’s livelihoods and estimated to employ millions of people across Africa, particularly in rural areas where alternative employment opportunities can be limited. Because of this and charcoal’s status as a readily available low-cost fuel, policy options need to focus on transitioning to more sustainable options rather than outright bans or other disruptive measures.

What are some of the immediate and long-term outcomes of solving the dirty charcoal problem and which solutions do you find most promising?

First, recognition that charcoal is an integral part of household energy mix and not going away anytime soon would be a big step forward to working on sustainable solutions. Producers need to be encouraged to adopt sustainable methods for tree harvesting and replanting, for production and for distribution. On the user side, improved cookstoves reduce the amount of fuel needed and reduce indoor air pollution. Alternative energy options such as electric pressure cookers and LPG are increasing available but can still be at price points that are too high to displace wood energy.

In the short run, having a more sustainable approach to charcoal will slow down deforestation while still providing households with a fairly low-cost fuel option as they transition to more eco-friendly fuel alternatives. In the long run, a shift away from charcoal will take pressure off woodland eco-systems and lead to a more balanced use of wood resources.

Some of the alternatives to traditional charcoal that we like best are charcoal briquettes made from recycled waste streams, electric pressure cookers, and cooking baskets, all of which save consumers money on fuel and do not impact forests.

Tell us more about the approach and solutions developed by The Charcoal Project.

TCP works to address this issue through policy research, advocacy, and hands on programming. Our goal is to disseminate information about the sector to policy makers, academics, entrepreneurs, households, and other stakeholders.

We recently completed a study on the conduciveness of African nations to sustainable charcoal policies which can be found here. This study produced a ton of data that we hope will spawn additional studies on this important topic.

We have worked extensively with the charcoal briquettes sector to help producers reach scale and market this eco-friendly alternative to charcoal. Together with MIT D-Lab, we have developed the Harvest Fuel Initiative, a program that creates a community of practice for briquette producers and supports their efforts to expand and scale.

Because household energy choices affect women disproportionately, many women come to this sector as entrepreneurs and leaders. We incorporate support for women into all of our programs to help overcome systemic biases that jeopardize their success.

What drew you personally to this problem?

After graduating with a dual master’s in public policy and business, I began my career in banking and worked with large corporate lenders and in private equity. I found that I preferred working with smaller companies as it was easier to feel that your work was impactful. This led me to an interest in entrepreneurship, particularly for women, and eventually I spent four years at a women’s business center, supporting and training budding entrepreneurs.

I had spent some time focusing on family and children but was ready to get back into the formal workplace. Having became increasingly focused on environmental issues and climate change I really wanted to focus on renewable energy issues. TCP was looking for someone with a business background to implement their on-the-ground programs and it was a great fit for my interests in energy policy, climate change, women’s issues, and entrepreneurship.

How do you see the usage of charcoal evolve over the next decade?

We see the usage of charcoal continuing to increase for the next decade and beyond with growth predicted until 2040. However, this will be driven largely by population growth and urbanization. We expect that households will keep charcoal and other forms of wood energy in their mix for traditional dishes at least, but their use will decline as other cleaner and more convenient forms of energy such as gas and electricity come down in price. This will have a positive impact on household air pollution though the overall increase will still put considerable pressure on forests. As forest loss increases the price of charcoal, alternatives such as briquettes made from waste streams, should gain as a viable alternative.