Charcoal is widely used for cooking and heating in developing countries. The consumption of charcoal has been at high level and the demand may keep growing over the next decades, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Some preliminary studies indicate that among commonly used cooking fuels, unsustainably produced charcoal can be the most greenhouse gas intensive fuels and simple measures could deliver high GHG mitigation benefits. Through the Paris Agreement on climate change adopted in 2015, countries set themselves ambitious targets to curb climate change, and forest-related measures have an important role to play in climate change mitigation and adaptation. Over 70% of the countries who have submitted their (intended) nationally determined contributions (NDCs) mention forestry and land use mitigation measures. Despite the importance of woodfuel in many countries, few have explicitly included measures to reduce emissions from woodfuel production and consumption. Many of the NDCs that include forestry do not yet provide detailed information on how mitigation is to be achieved. The overall objective of the publication is to provide data and information to allow for informed decision-making on the contribution sustainable charcoal production and consumption can make to climate change mitigation. More specifically, the publication aims to answer the following questions: - What are the climate change impacts of the current practices on charcoal production and consumption worldwide and across regions? - What is the potential of sustainable charcoal production in GHG emission reductions and how such potential can be achieved? - What are the key barriers to sustainable charcoal production and what actions are required to develop a climate-smart charcoal sector?

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical—and accessible—plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe. Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions—suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise. As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.

Mark Twain observed, “I'm in favour of progress; it's change I don't like.” Coal dominates Indian energy because it’s available domestically and cheap (especially without a carbon tax). If the global focus is on the energy transition, how does India ensure a just transition? Managing winners and losers will be the single largest challenge for India’s energy policy. Coal is entrenched in a complex ecosystem. In some states, it’s amongst the largest contributors to state budgets. The Indian Railways, India’s largest civilian employer, is afloat because it overcharges coal to offset under-recovery from passengers. Coal India Limited, the public sector miner that produces 85% of domestic coal, is the world’s largest coal miner. But despite enormous reserves, India imports about a quarter of consumption. On the flip side, coal faces inevitable pressure from renewable energy, which is the cheapest option for new builds. However, there is significant coal-based power capacity already in place, some of which is underutilized, or even stranded. Low per-capita energy consumption means India must still grow its energy supply. Before India can phase out coal, it must first achieve a plateau of coal. How this happens cost-effectively and with least resistance isn’t just a technical or economic question, it depends on the political economy of coal and its alternatives. Some stakeholders want to kill coal. A wiser option may be to first clean it up, instead of wishing it away. Across 18 chapters, drawing from leading experts in the field, we examine all aspects of coal’s future in India. We find no easy answers, but attempt to combine the big picture with details, bringing them together to offer a range of policy options.

As cities in developing countries grow and become more prosperous, energy use shifts from fuelwood to fuels like charcoal, kerosene, and coal, and, ultimately, to fuels such as liquid petroleum gas, and electricity. Energy use is not usually considered as a social issue. Yet, as this book demonstrates, the movement away from traditional fuels has a strong socio-economic dimension, as poor people are the last to attain the benefits of using modern energy. The result is that health risks from the continued use of wood fuel fall most heavily on the poor, and indoor pollution from wood stoves has its greatest effect on women and children who cook and spend much more of their time indoors. Barnes, Krutilla, and Hyde provide the first worldwide assessment of the energy transition as it occurs in urban households, drawing upon data collected by the World Bank Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme (ESMAP). From 1984-2000, the program conducted over 25,000 household energy surveys in 45 cities spanning 12 countries and 3 continents. Additionally, GIS mapping software was used to compile a biomass database of vegetation patterns surrounding 34 cities. Using this rich set of geographic, biological, and socioeconomic data, the authors describe problems and policy options associated with each stage in the energy transition. The authors show how the poorest are most vulnerable to changes in energy markets and demonstrate how the collection of biomass fuel contributes to deforestation. Their book serves as an important contribution to development studies, and as a guide for policymakers hoping to encourage sustainable energy markets and an improved quality of life for growing urban populations.

For decades, the world’s governments have struggled to move from talk to action on climate. Many now hope that growing public concern will lead to greater policy ambition, but the most widely promoted strategy to address the climate crisis – the use of market-based programs – hasn’t been working and isn’t ready to scale. Danny Cullenward and David Victor show how the politics of creating and maintaining market-based policies render them ineffective nearly everywhere they have been applied. Reforms can help around the margins, but markets’ problems are structural and won’t disappear with increasing demand for climate solutions. Facing that reality requires relying more heavily on smart regulation and industrial policy – government-led strategies – to catalyze the transformation that markets promise, but rarely deliver.

This book is the first comprehensive assessment of the state of low-carbon investments in Asia, analyzing the rationales, mandates and public–private financing activities. Based on the experiences of several regional initiatives wherein public financing is catalyzing private investments in low-carbon infrastructure, this book proposes a framework that can be used as a tool to identify factors that influence private investment decisions and policy instruments that can scale up the private capital. Placing the Asian economies onto a low-carbon development pathway requires an unprecedented shift in investments. This book addresses this situation by asking questions such as: • What is the central role of private finance in achieving the Paris Agreement targets? • What key policy levers and risk mitigation can governments use in an effort to unlock the potentials of private capital? • How can regionally coordinated actions hold significant promise for scaling up private investments?

The present edition of Nature & Faune journal emphasizes the role of natural renewable resources within the framework of Africa’s agricultural transformation. Central to the transformation agenda is achieving greater prosperity which can improve peoples' lives and livelihoods. These improvements of lives and livelihoods cover their economic well-being; their environment; socio‐cultural and political sphere of influence. The conditions for modernizing Africa’s agriculture entail transforming not only production processes but also the products. This issue of the Journal highlights the unique features of Africa’s agriculture, including (i) the urgent need for improving productivity; (ii) the importance of the agricultural sector in Africa’s economies in terms of employment; and (iii) the climate-resilient opportunities within agriculture to cope with climate change challenges. It draws attention to the fact that the agriculture sector offers possibilities for increased productivity while also adapting to and mitigating climate change thus safeguarding also future production.