US agency says 689kg of charcoal consumed per household in Lusaka hurting the climate

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has said an average household in Lusaka uses a minimum of 689 kilogrammes (Kg) of charcoal annually, a situation contributing greatly to climate change effects.

USAID Alternative to Charcoal Project lead, Catherine Picard, said to help address this challenge they had partnered with Micro Finance Zambia Limited (MFLZ) and Radian Stores to launch the consumer financing product.

This would seek to give both private and government employees access to affordable finance.

She said that the loans would be used for purchasing clean cooking technologies to help reduce the use of charcoal.

Picard made the announcement of the partnership on Tuesday in Lusaka during the launch of the Consumer Finance Product and signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with MFLZ and Radian Stores.

“Primarily, the USAID Alternative to Charcoal project promotes the use of five low emissions clean cooking technologies in urban areas namely Liquified Petroleum Gas, electricity, low emission pellet stoves, bio ethanol and biogas,” she said.

Picard said the objectives of the five years project included reducing urban consumption of charcoal by 25 percent and increase the usage of alternative to charcoal sources of energy by almost 40 percent by end of 2025.

Ministry of Energy Director, Arnold Simwaba, commended the three organisations for the partnership, stating that government was aware of the fact that access to clean sources of energy for cooking was critical to safeguarding and protecting the environment.

“Zambia is losing over 300,000 hectares of land annually due to deforestation, this makes Zambia to have a leading rate of deforestation in Africa and this situation is worrisome and needs urgent attention and measures,” Simwaba said.

Sydney Chisenga of MFLZ said the repayments of the loans would be gradual, payroll based and this would make it possible for many Zambians to afford to purchase clean cooking technologies.

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