Woodfuels consist of four main commodities: fuelwood, charcoal, black liquor and other. While fuelwood and charcoal are traditional forest products derived from the forest, wood processing industries and recycled wooden products from society, black liquors are by-products of the pulp and paper industry.

Although woodfuels account for only 7 percent of the world¿s total energy supply with 23.000 PJ, they are extremely important in some countries. Developing countries consume about 77 percent of the world¿s supply of woodfuels, which in turn accounts for 15 percent of their total primary energy consumption. Figure 1 summarizes the total woodfuel consumption in 1995 in the main regions of the world, divided between developed and developing regions. The remaining 23 percent is used in developed countries and accounts for only 2 percent of their total energy consumption.

These figures hide great differences at national and sub-regional levels. For most countries of Sahelian Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, tropical Asia and the small islands of Oceania, woodfuels constitute the major source of energy and are used mainly to meet household energy needs. Woodfuels provide more than 70 percent of the energy needs of 34 countries in these regions. Dependence on woodfuels is extremely high in Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Haiti and Uganda.

Figure 1 - Distribution of wood energy consumption by regions in 1995

The importance of wood energy also varies considerably in developed countries. In Europe, for instance, a relatively small amount of woodfuels are used in UK, Belgium and Germany, while in Finland, Sweden and Austria they provide up to 17 percent of the national energy demand. (For more information click here)

There is a strong correlation between demand for woodfuel and its share of all wood products consumed. The total production of wood in 1995 was approximately 3 900 million m³. A significant amount of this (2 300 million m³) is being used as woodfuels. This means that approximately 60 percent of the world¿s total wood removals from forests and non-forest lands are being used for energy purposes. While in developed countries only 30 percent of the wood produced is used for woodfuel, in developing countries this reaches 80 percent.

In fact, a high proportion of wood is used for woodfuels in Africa, Asia and Latin America where woodfuels account for 89 percent, 81 percent, and 66 percent of their respective total consumption. At country level, the share of woodfuels within the total wood consumption ranges from a low of 22 percent in Malaysia (which is in line with European countries) to 98 percent in countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Nepal and Pakistan.

Black liquors from the pulp and paper industries also contribute greatly to meeting energy needs. It is marked in Oceania, North America and Europe, where large pulp and paper industries have heat and power plants fueled with black liquors. In the European Union, however, most woodfuels are still used by households and woodfuels account for around 60 percent of the total wood energy consumed.