Key messages

• Wood provides the world with more energy than solar, hydroelectric or wind power, accounting for roughly 40 percent of current global renewable energy supply. It plays an important role in both developing and in some industrialized countries.
• About 50 percent of global wood production (around 1.86 billion cubic meters) is used as energy for cooking, heating, and electricity generation. For 2.4 billion people, woodfuel means a cooked and more nutritious meal, boiled water, and a warm dwelling.
• Approximately 883 million people in developing countries are employed in the wood energy sector on a full or part-time basis.
• Modernizing the wood energy sector can help revitalize rural economies and stimulate enterprise development – greater investment in wood energy production and advanced wood fuels can provide revenue to finance better forest management, more growing forests and more jobs.
• Strategically placed trees in urban areas can cool the air by between 2-8 degrees C.
• Globally, forests hold an energy content approximately 10 times that of the world’s annual primary energy consumption. They thus have significant potential as renewable resources to meet global energy demand.
• Greater investment in technological innovation and in sustainably managed forests is the key to increasing forests’ role as a major source of renewable energy. In this way, we invest in our sustainable future, in meeting several Sustainable Development Goals and in growing a green economy.
• Increased areas of sustainably managed household and community woodlots and the use of clean and efficient wood stoves can give millions more people in developing countries access to cheap, reliable and renewable energy.

Videos

Grass charcoal production in Ghana #image($pageItem, $entry) In Ghana, small producers are revolutionizing the production of charcoal. By using savanna grasses to make charcoal briquettes producers promote renewable energy and green jobs. It burns slower, making it ideal for cooking. The Ghana Federation of Forest and Farm Producers and the Millar Institute for Transdisciplinary and Development Studies with Forest and Farm Facility support trained five forest and farm producer organizations on the production of grass charcoal. [more]

Clean energy from sustainable wood Forests and trees absorb the sun’s energy and store it by turning it into wood—the world’s most used source of renewable energy. [more]

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Publications

Issue brief: Forests, energy and livelihoods More integrated approaches between forests, energy and livelihoods can accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, according to a joint brief published by the UN Forum on Forests Secretariat, FAO, the International Union of Forest Research Organizations and the United Nations Development Programme. The brief sets out an overview of global trends on forests, energy and livelihoods and how they are connected. [more]

Are policies in Africa conducive to sustainability interventions in the charcoal sector? Linking forests, energy and livelihoods can help achieve SDGs This publication presents the key findings from a preliminary assessment of the policies of African countries relevant to charcoal value chains. The main objective of this study is to assess the extent to which national energy and environmental policies and strategies in Africa have the potential to provide enabling conditions for sustainability interventions in the charcoal sector. [more]

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Press releases

Innovative grass charcoal fuels opportunity in Ghana A new charcoal production method aims to capitalize on the potential of the region's grasses, helping reduce fire risk and forest degradation while giving communities a sustainable fuel and income source. [more]

Linking forests, energy and livelihoods can help achieve SDGs More integrated approaches between forests, energy and livelihoods can accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, according to a joint brief published by the UN Forum on Forests Secretariat, FAO, the International Union of Forest Research Organizations and the United Nations Development Programme. The brief sets out an overview of global trends on forests, energy and livelihoods and how they are connected. [more]

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Expert interviews

Interview with Eva Müller, Director, Forestry Policy and Resources Division, FAO 24 April 2018 Eva Müller, the Director of the Forestry Policy and Resources Division at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations explains the importance of improving the sustainability of production and the efficiency of wood energy. [more]

Riikka Joukio of the Metsä Group on wood fuel and sustainable forestry 23 April 2018 Ms. Riikka Joukio, Senior Vice President of Sustainability and Corporate Affairs for the Metsä Group on wood as a fuel of the future and how to ensure its sustainability. [more]

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Audio

Turning black charcoal 'green'