The Charcoal Project

Yo, African countries: Don’t count your billions before they hatch.

African countries hoping to cash in on the $100 billion carrot being dangled by climate change negotiators for adaptation and mitigation in the developing world will first have to figure out how to sustainably provide energy to the more than 90% of people in sub-Sahara that depend on wood and charcoal for cooking and heating.

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Yo! Developing nations! Cut the red tape on clean energy investments.

Developing countries must cut the red tape and build capacity if they want a slice of the quarter billion dollar investments that clean energy attracted last year. That, in a nutshell, is the message contained in a UNDP report that shows that 90% of $243 billion invested in 2010 went to G-20 countries (which include China and India). Shaping policies, creating economic incentives, identifying technology, and building domestic capacity for solid biomass fuel efficiency will be hot topics of discussion at the upcoming Symposium & Workshop on Charcoal to be held in Arusha, Tanzania, on June 15th. The event, part Continue reading