Predictors of persistent charcoal consumption among urban households in Tete, Mozambique

Charcoal consumption remains high in cities across Sub-Saharan Africa. As urbanization continues, this presents serious problems for biodiversity and the realization of Sustainable Development Goal 7. Understanding the persistent demand for charcoal, especially among urban households with access to electricity, is a critical step towards ensuring sustainable forest management while encouraging households to transition to cleaner sources of energy. Herein, we profile urban charcoal users living in the heart of southern Africa's miombo woodlands. We use an ordinary least squares regression model to predict charcoal consumption among a sample of households in Tete, Mozambique with widespread connectivity to the electrical grid. Our findings indicate that income plays only a negligible role in predicting monthly per capita charcoal consumption. More important are personal preferences and the peer effects of friendships with non-charcoal using peers. These findings present possible pathways for policy-makers to induce a shift in charcoal demand among urban households and to promote switching to cleaner cooking fuels.