Is Burkina Faso Now Producing Coal Without Deforestation?
On September 6, 2025, an X user @cecild84 claimed that Burkina Faso has started producing coal domestically, without uprooting a single tree, as an environmentally friendly initiative. This claim was posted with the image of packaged charcoal blocks and captioned, “🇧🇫 Burkina Faso domestically produced coal, without a single tree being uprooted. That is how you protect the environment”.
As of when this report was published, the claim had about 8,600 views and over 660 replies, reposts, quotes, likes and bookmarks.
VERIFICATION
Burkina Faso faces serious challenges with deforestation. Between 2001 and 2024, the country lost 129 hectares of tree cover due to deforestation (not natural causes), releasing 869 kt of COâ‚‚ equivalent. According to global energy statistics from both recent and long-term data, Burkina Faso has zero coal reserves and zero coal production.
While there have been discussions on a regional initiative like the Salkadamna coal complex in Niger, Burkina Faso is only being invited to join, but not already producing coal itself.
There are efforts to promote eco-friendly or “green coal” (biochar / charcoal alternatives) made from agricultural and biodegradable waste. Reports show that the country is exploring alternative biomass briquettes as an eco-friendlier option. This alternative, though promising, is not coal and cannot be a large-scale substitute yet. The eco-coal briquettes are made from straw, paper, algae, and other waste, aiming to reduce smoke and tree cutting, but do not involve coal mining.
CONCLUSION
The claim that Burkina Faso produces and exports coal is FALSE. The country does not produce coal. The country is only experimenting with eco-friendly biomass briquettes made from agricultural waste.
