Thank you for your climate responsibility at the grill
The sales of Nordic Swan Ecolabelled barbecue charcoal and briquettes have doubled in Sweden this summer. By choosing Nordic Swan Ecolabelled barbecue charcoal, consumers have contributed to using forests in a resource-efficient and climate-smart way during the production. In addition, Nordic Ecolabelling checks that the barbecue charcoal does not originate from illegally destroyed rainforest.
- The Amazon is burning and the climate issue is high on the agenda in Sweden. We can see that this has affected Swedish consumers, who have taken responsibility when choosing barbecue charcoal. A contributing reason is that this year it has become easier to choose the right one. Nordic Swan Ecolabelled barbecue charcoal is now available for purchase on more stores, says Maria Forsberg, product specialist at Ecolabelling Sweden.
"Foul barbecue charcoal" threatens protected forests
In Sweden alone, we grill 22,000 tonnes of charcoal / briquettes a year, which corresponds to 9 million bags. However, there is still "foul barbecue charcoal" left in many stores. In the global illegal charcoal trade, timber is repackaged and sold as "foul barbecue charcoal" under false origin (see UN report). The ugly barbecue charcoal can also be produced in more primitive, inefficient processes. Nordic Ecolabelling requirements for production mean that the charcoal is produced in a 4 times as energy efficient process, which saves large amounts of forest.
- If everyone who buys barbecue charcoal would choose Nordic Swan Ecolabelled barbecue charcoal, we could save up to 100,000 tonnes of wood, which corresponds to over 2,000 full timber cars. It would save the world even more protected forest and more carbon dioxide emissions. So we hope that more producers and retailers will take their responsibility for the environment and ecolabel their barbecue charcoal and briquettes, says Maria Forsberg.
The Nordic Swan Ecolabel requires 100% of the wood raw material to be FSC-certified and to be traceable back to where the forest has grown. FSC certification is supplemented by a ban on threatened wood species, most of which are tropical. This further strengthens the conservation of protected tropical forests.
Nordic Ecolabelling requirements also mean that production is controlled on site, both at the factory and at the warehouse.
This is how we have calculated
Nordic Ecolabelling requirements mean that the barbecue charcoal is manufactured in a closed industrial process, which is energy efficient. Therefore, it is not needed as much wood raw material as in a more primitive, non-industrial production.
Around 22,000 tonnes of charcoal are sold in Sweden per year, of which 10,000 tonnes were Nordic Ecolabelled. If the remaining charcoal, ie 12,000 tonnes, also would be produced in the same efficient way, we could save up to 100,000 (9 * 12,000) tonnes further. This corresponds to 2,000 timber cars. A timber car can hold an average of 43 tonnes.
To be precise, 12 times as much wood raw material as the weight of the finished carbon can be required. Compare that to the Nordic Ecolabelled barbecue charcoal, which requires about 3 tons of wood raw material to make 1 ton of coal. Thus, each tonne of Nordic Swan Ecolabelled barbecue charcoal can save up to 9 tonnes of wood raw material.
Nordic Swan Ecolabelled barbecue charcoal and briquettes are available at Coop, Ica, Willys, and OKQ8.