Charcoal

TFT research

February 2015
Charcoal in Europe

More than 800,000 tons of charcoal is used in Europe every year. Between 5 and 12 tons of
wood are required to produce just one ton of wood-based charcoal. This is why it’s
important to think about where the charcoal we use comes from and how it was produced.
Around 70% of the charcoal used annually in Europe, (570,000 tons of it), is imported.
Nigeria is Europe’s biggest charcoal supplier, with Namibia, South Africa, Egypt, and Ivory
Coast also exporting to Europe. In total, Africa is responsible for 40% of all European
charcoal imports.

Pie chat above courtesy of FAO

Charcoal in France

In 2013, the French charcoal market amounted to 130,000 tons per year. Around 70% of it
was imported – this is around 90,000 tons. French charcoal imports have increased during
the last 10 years. This has had a negative effect on local production, as the graph on the
following page demonstrates. Around 40% of France’s charcoal imports come from Nigeria,
either directly or via other countries like Belgium. This is a concern because Nigeria has
problems with deforestation.

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Pie chart above is a TFT estimate on which countries export charcoal to France.

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Forests conservation

Wood charcoal production isn’t the sole cause of deforestation, but Africa is particularly
affected by this phenomena. In some specific areas, deforestation is largely caused by wood
charcoal production. That’s why in 2011, the Nigerian environment council – who were
concerned about the negative impact charcoal was having on forests - called for stopping
the production and exportation of charcoal from their country. This request has been
reiterated in 2014, but ignored by local authorities until now.

Besides its impact on forests, the wood charcoal business has been known to operate
illegally and used to finance conflicts. In 2014, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP
Executive Director Achim Steiner said: "Beyond immediate environmental impacts, the illegal
trade in natural resources is depriving developing economies of billions of dollars in lost
revenues just to fill the pockets of criminals."

Official national exports figures indicate that most African countries only export a few trucks
of charcoal per year. This is open to debate. Charcoal traffic is significant in protected areas.
Land sat data shows massive illegal logging in several natural reserves, including conflict
zones from Democratic Republic of the Congo and in the north of Madagascar, where boats
are used to export charcoal. According to estimations the income produced by the illegal
charcoal trade in east, west and central Africa is worth up to US$7.4 billion. This represents
2.8 times more than the value of illicit drugs traded in the same region, (UNEP report June
2014).

Responsible charcoal

In order to address the lack of supply chain transparency in the European and French
charcoal market, TFT has developed a system and a set of specific standards to support
producers and importers supply responsible charcoal.
 Transparency in the supply chain
All raw wood materials necessary to produce charcoal should be identified and
quantified.

 Wood coming from no deforestation risk forests

No wood should come from controversial areas associated with deforestation.

 Traceability
This concerns wood supplies, charcoal production and market delivery.

 Appropriate working conditions

Health and safety conditions should be appropriate for the workers.

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These methods are based on TFT’s global approach to supply chains, which has already been
used in other commodities, like timber, palm oil, and pulp and paper. This involves a four-
step change journey we call VT-TV.

Journey to more responsible products

Knowing the supply chain is the first necessary step and TFT’s work is divided into two parts:
 Ground actions and diagnostics in charcoal factories. TFT aims to track all wood
supplies back to the forest source.

 Heighten awareness and engage retailers through more responsible purchases,

making recommendations, and providing training and support to establish improved
policies.

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Diagram above shows a simplified version of the charcoal supply chain.

Transparency is the key

Before working in the field TFT carries out supply chain mapping. This mapping includes
everyone who supplies the importers, as well as the producers concerned. This helps to
identify and prioritise the factories that need to be analysed. The goal is to track the charcoal
back to the forest.

TFT evaluates deforestation risks in terms of geographical areas of charcoal manufacturing -

which relies on satellite data, corruption, types of forests, and certification. A data gathering
process is then set up in the factories. This process considers wood origin, and the volumes
of wood going in and out of the factory

TFT then carries out the on-site diagnostics. In the field, TFT double-checks declared
information with data available on site, in order to verify the consistency and compliance of
the work. Likewise, working conditions (health and safety) and of course forest
management, are also checked during this field assessment.

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The scoring review below raises an instant score, taking into account the information
gathered and the assessment. It represents an evaluation of the origins of the wood
charcoal. It is then used to propose improvements to the suppliers in order to progress
towards better practices in the charcoal supply chain.

SCORING :

Traceability system’s strength

Preventing charcoal mixing

The mix of local and imported charcoal can also be a problem. Some charcoal producers are
actually tempted to mix their own charcoal with low-cost imported charcoal. TFT mitigates
against this by charcoal bag picking. This allows us to test the density and visual
characteristics of a charcoal sample. These tests generally allow us to identify the origin of
the wood used to produce charcoal.

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Tropical wood charcoal:

- Higher density

- Tropical wood
characteristics (no
discernible growth)
rings)

Temperate wood charcoal :

- Lower density

- Temperate wood
characteristics
(growth rings)

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The key role of retailers

Bigger sales of charcoal are made in food retailer stores, which mostly sell charcoal under
their own retailer brand. This business is therefore an essential link in making the sector
more responsible. This is why TFT is working side by side with retailers to make them more
aware of the significance of marketing charcoal that can be traced through the supply chain
to a responsible source.

Since 2012 TFT has invited retailers (purchase and quality department), producers and
importers to a meeting and debate. The aim is raise further awareness of the issues in the
charcoal market and to encourage them to set up action plans to tackle them.

These meetings have identified the difficulties in supplying traceable and responsible
charcoal. Increasing wood prices have created a critical economic situation for French
charcoal manufacturers. This has the potential to cause massive charcoal plant closures in
the country even though locally produced charcoal is still the easiest way to reduce
deforestation risks associated with the product. But for years, charcoal trade negotiations
focused on prices, volumes, bags, but never took into consideration the product: wood
charcoal.

Conclusion

The wood charcoal market is being changed. Thanks to some major commitments from
retailers and producers France is now leading a charcoal market with better practices. But
there is still work to do. The next step is sharing this approach with other European
countries.

Mass markets and retailers should confirm their commitments and comply with their wood
purchase policies. Some big retailer’s brands took strong commitments while others are still
resistant to change.

Price should not be the only purchase driver for wood charcoal, knowledge of it coming from
a responsible source with no links to deforestation or exploitation should be taken into
consideration, too. It’s particularly important to understand the deforestation risks in the
country the charcoal has been imported from. Alternative solutions now exist. We are now
working to implement them.