Arbeitspapier

The forgotten coal: Charcoal demand in Sub-Saharan Africa

Charcoal is an important cooking fuel in urban Africa. In this paper, we estimate the current number of charcoal users and project trends for the coming decades. Charcoal production is often not effectively regulated, and it hence contributes to forest degradation. Moreover, charcoal has adverse health effects for its users. At the same time, charcoal constitutes an important income source in deprived rural areas, while the current alternative, gas, is a mostly imported fossil fuel. We find that 195 million people in sub-Saharan Africa rely on charcoal as their primary cooking fuel and gauge that another 200 million use charcoal as secondary fuel. Our scenarios suggest that clean cooking initiatives are outweighed by strong urban population growth and hence charcoal usage is expected to remain high over the coming decades. Policies should therefore target end-users, forest management, and regulation of charcoal production to enable sustainable production and use of charcoal.

ISBN
978-3-96973-097-3
Sprache
Englisch

Erschienen in
Series: Ruhr Economic Papers ; No. 937

Klassifikation
Wirtschaft
Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth
Environmental Economics: Government Policy
Energy: General
Energy: Demand and Supply; Prices
Renewable Resources and Conservation: General
Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
Economic Development: General
Thema
Energy consumption
charcoal
Africa

Ereignis
Geistige Schöpfung
(wer)
Rose, Julian
Bensch, Gunther
Munyehirwe, Anicet
Peters, Jörg
Ereignis
Veröffentlichung
(wer)
RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung
(wo)
Essen
(wann)
2022

DOI
doi:10.4419/96973097
Handle
Letzte Aktualisierung
10.03.2025, 11:45 MEZ

Datenpartner

Dieses Objekt wird bereitgestellt von:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. Bei Fragen zum Objekt wenden Sie sich bitte an den Datenpartner.

Objekttyp

  • Arbeitspapier

Beteiligte

  • Rose, Julian
  • Bensch, Gunther
  • Munyehirwe, Anicet
  • Peters, Jörg
  • RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung

Entstanden

  • 2022

Ähnliche Objekte (12)