Increased charcoal usage raises pollution, health concerns

• Experts blame rising cost of cooking gas, cylinders

Notwithstanding the associated environmental risks, many households and businesses in Nigerian urban cities like Lagos still rely on charcoal as a primary source of cooking fuel.

For years, countless Lagos residents have used charcoal as a primary fuel source. Its affordability and accessibility have made it a convenient alternative to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), also known as cooking gas.

Cooking gas may be cleaner and more sustainable, but the stove and refill costs hinder small businesses and low-income households. At the same time, charcoal is readily available in manageable and affordable quantities.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that the price of 12.5 kilograms (kg) of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), better known as cooking gas, increased by 55.66 per cent year-on-year.

According to the NBS, Nigerians paid an average price of N14,261.57 to refill a 12.5kg cylinder of cooking gas in July 2024 compared to N9,162.11 in July 2023.

The Guardian survey for August on LPG (cooking gas) showed that the cost of refilling a 12.5kg cylinder has moved to N15,000.Also, a market survey of charcoal in May shows that at the end of 2022, a sack of hardwood charcoal sold for N2,900 while a 10-liter bucket sold for N300. By 2023, these prices rose to N4,500 and N700 respectively.

A sack is priced at N9,000 and a paint bucket at N2,500. These prices contrast with LPG currently sold at N1,500 for a kg. Various end-users of charcoal stated that its affordability was the reason for their switch to charcoal. Abike Lawal, a food vendor, said “Though I buy a sack of charcoal weekly, it is less expensive than using gas to cook. Besides, it burns well.”

Ikenna Okoye, a smoked fish vendor, explained his reason for sticking with charcoal: “Charcoal gives food a special flavour. Fish smoked with a gas oven and charcoal ovens are very different. Fish smoked with charcoal is preferable.”

Ijeoma Anene, a roast corn vendor, said, “Although charcoal prices have increased, it is still better than using gas. Gas is out of reach for many families now.”

However, the convenience of charcoal comes at a significant environmental cost. Charcoal production is one of Nigeria’s leading causes of deforestation. This deforestation has a ripple effect, contributing to rising CO2 emissions, estimated at 305.6 million metric tonnes (MMT) as of 2020, according to a report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Nigeria has consistently ranked among the countries with the highest yearly deforestation rates. The 2015 FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment reported that Nigeria had the fourth-greatest annual net loss of forest area globally, with a 5 per cent yearly rate of deforestation between 2010-2015.

This trend has continued, with the 2020 FAO Global Forest Assessment stating that Nigeria’s yearly rate of deforestation remains at 5 per cent. Over the past three decades, Nigeria’s forest resources area has declined significantly, from 26.5 million hectares in 1990 to 21.6 million hectares in 2020.

In 2021, Nigeria updated the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Paris Agreement, which establishes a target of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction of 20 per cent by 2030, widen access to cooking gas to 48 per cent (26.8 million households) of its population, and improved biomass cook stoves for 13 per cent (7.8 million households) of the population.

In the same year, the Federal Ministry of Environment developed a draft clean cooking policy and established a national clean cooking committee to support its efforts in creating a suitable environment for the expansion of clean cooking access.

A recent report by the World Bank states the poverty rate is estimated to be 38.9 per cent in 2023, with an estimated 87 million Nigerians living below the poverty line placing Nigeria as the world’s second-largest poor population after India.

The Executive Director, International Center for Energy, Environment, and Development (ICEED), Mr Ewah Eleri, said the cost of living crisis rocking Nigeria is the main reason why the cost of clean cooking fuels and technologies has gone up.

“From the last available statistics, 10.5 per cent of all households were using cooking gas or LPG for cooking. While a substantial proportion of the gas used is produced in Nigeria, much of it was being exported by the companies that produced them.

“Meanwhile, we continue to import the same product at international prices. Both LPG produced in Nigeria and those imported into the country are priced in dollars. As the value of the Naira crashed, the price households had to pay for cooking gas skyrocketed. In two years, prices of a kilogramme of LPG have more than quadrupled,” he said.

Eleri said the new Federal Executive Council approved the National Clean Cooking Policy as one of the initiatives to curb this growing concern. “A component of the policy seeks to impose a domestic obligation on all Nigerian producers of LPG to prioritise the domestic market and for cooking gas produced in Nigeria to be priced in naira.

The Minister of State for Petroleum has made this pronouncement, and we noticed a significant decline in retail prices. “However, the policy goes beyond fixing the challenges in the LPG value chain, strategies were outlined to promote access to electric cooking, and improved wood and charcoal stoves for rural areas. We all must try to hold the government accountable to this new policy and ensure that it is effectively implemented.”

According to him, the major roadblock to providing access to clean cooking solutions in Nigeria is today’s growing poverty rate. “The current economic situation has eroded the purchasing power of most households, making clean and healthy cooking solutions unaffordable,” Ewah said.

He urged the government should focus on expanding access to clean cooking stoves for wood and charcoal in rural areas. “With improvements in the economy, these households will, in the future, make the transition to better energy forms such as cooking gas and electricity. For urban areas, it continues to be embarrassing that a gas nation like Nigeria leaves so many urban families out of the clean cooking energy transition. We must expand the use of LPG in urban and semi-urban areas,” he added.

An advocate climate and forest officer for the Green Initiative for Humanitarian Aid and Development (GreeniHAD), Julius Christian, said the continuous use of charcoal “poses a grave threat to the environment as it leads to loss of biodiversity and resource depletion.
Sustainable alternatives and cleaner energy sources should be promoted to mitigate these risks,” he added.

The human cost of charcoal is concerning. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates household air pollution, caused by biomass and coal, amongst others, was responsible for an estimated 3.2 million deaths per year in 2020, including over 237,000 deaths of children under the age of five in densely populated urban areas. This translates into a daily struggle for many Nigerians, who face increased risks of respiratory problems, worsened asthma, and infections.

A senior medical officer, Dr Chukwuzitelu Okafor-Udah, expressed concerns about the continuous exposure of individuals to charcoal burning. He stated that “exposure to charcoal burning could lead to short-term effects such as eye irritation, coughing, and headaches. The long-term effects could be respiratory illnesses and increased risks of cancer.”