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Streamlined Social Footprint Analysis of the Nascent Bio-Pellet Sub-Sector in Zambia

Author

Listed:
  • Ismail Gannan

    (Energy and Environment Group, Department of Engineering and Chemical Sciences, Karlstad University, 65188 Karlstad, Sweden)

  • Hussam Kubaji

    (Energy and Environment Group, Department of Engineering and Chemical Sciences, Karlstad University, 65188 Karlstad, Sweden)

  • Workson Siwale

    (Energy and Environment Group, Department of Engineering and Chemical Sciences, Karlstad University, 65188 Karlstad, Sweden)

  • Stefan Frodeson

    (Energy and Environment Group, Department of Engineering and Chemical Sciences, Karlstad University, 65188 Karlstad, Sweden)

  • G. Venkatesh

    (Energy and Environment Group, Department of Engineering and Chemical Sciences, Karlstad University, 65188 Karlstad, Sweden)

Abstract

Climate change concerns have goaded countries toward seeking renewable energy options (bio-energy being one of them) to replace/supplant the conventional fossil-fuel alternatives (coal, oil and natural gas) commonly used now. Fuel pellets—at the confluence of the forestry, agriculture, waste management and bio-energy sectors—when produced from biomass residues, serve the dual purpose of ensuring energy security and environmental sustainability. By valorizing more and more organic wastes to bio-energy products, one could, to use the old adage, ‘kill two birds with one stone’. Social LCA is a method used to analyze a very wide range of social issues associated with the stakeholders in a value chain—workers, local community dwellers, society, global consumers, banks, investors, governments, researchers, international organizations and NGOs. In this analysis, the authors commence with a highly focused, niche literature review on the social dimension of sustainability in the African energy/bio-energy sector. The streamlined social footprint analysis inspired by the relatively lesser number of such studies for this sector in Africa is not a novel addition per se to the S-LCA knowledge base. The purpose of the application is to shed light on something in Zambia that must be understood better so as to bring about much-needed alterations in the direction of sustainable development. While the questions addressed to four different groups of stakeholders encompass a clutch of sustainable development goals, gender equality (SDG 5) and the need for greater interest on the part of governments and investors (SDG 9) to look at sustainable alternatives to the status quo stand out as concerns that need to be tided over. This paper and the streamlined social footprint analysis carried out are all the more relevant and timely when one considers some key changes that have happened in Zambia over the last five years—the implementation of the National Energy Policy in 2019 and the creation of the Ministry of Green Economy in 2021. These are verily harbingers of positive change auguring well for future developments in the bio-energy (and bio-pellets) sector, not just in Zambia but, by way of emulating and learning, in other countries on the continent.

Suggested Citation

  • Ismail Gannan & Hussam Kubaji & Workson Siwale & Stefan Frodeson & G. Venkatesh, 2023. "Streamlined Social Footprint Analysis of the Nascent Bio-Pellet Sub-Sector in Zambia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-17, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:6:p:5492-:d:1102777
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Oluwaseun Nubi & Stephen Morse & Richard J. Murphy, 2021. "A Prospective Social Life Cycle Assessment (sLCA) of Electricity Generation from Municipal Solid Waste in Nigeria," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-24, September.
    2. Susann Stritzke & Prem Jain, 2021. "The Sustainability of Decentralised Renewable Energy Projects in Developing Countries: Learning Lessons from Zambia," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-44, June.
    3. Anukam, Anthony & Berghel, Jonas & Henrikson, Gunnar & Frodeson, Stefan & Ståhl, Magnus, 2021. "A review of the mechanism of bonding in densified biomass pellets," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    4. Ian Duvenage & Ros Taplin & Lindsay Stringer, 2012. "Bioenergy project appraisal in sub‐Saharan Africa: Sustainability barriers and opportunities in Zambia," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 0(3), pages 167-180, August.
    5. Ian Duvenage & Ros Taplin & Lindsay Stringer, 2012. "Bioenergy project appraisal in sub‐Saharan Africa: Sustainability barriers and opportunities in Zambia," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 36(3), pages 167-180, August.
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