| Abstrakt: |
Brazil is the largest world producer of charcoal and all Brazilian charcoal production is for domestic consumption. In 2017, 85% of Brazilian production was for industrial consumption, and 10% for households. The main Brazilian charcoal end use is as a reducing agent in pig iron/steel industries, replacing mineral coal. Due to the renewable origin of Brazilian charcoal (mostly from planted forests), Brazil also has the title of the largest producer of "green steel" worldwide. If produced in a sustainable way, charcoal use in steel industries allows relevant benefits, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, creating jobs, reducing external dependence on fossil fuels and promoting the use of planted forests, preserving native forests and local biodiversity. However, there are still some challenges along the production chain to allow a full sustainable charcoal production for households consumption. For residential sector, charcoal has a specific end use in Brazil: barbecue cooking, which is a food with large cultural aspect. However, despite the large consumption, this residential charcoal use in Brazil still faces difficulties, given the lack of legislation to guarantee its origin and quality. This charcoal consumed in households has negative impacts, contributing to unhealthy working conditions, deforestation, illegal production and sale, as well as to health problems for producers and users. Thus, this work aims to identify the main social, economic and environmental barriers that hamper the sustainable production of charcoal in Brazil mainly for household consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
