Climate Curve

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Name of Project:

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Project Summary / Description:

Our project tackles a major source of emissions in Africa: deforestation for charcoal production. We transform a common industrial waste product (bagasse) into a clean substitute, creating an 'economic carbon sink': each ton produced saves 3-4 m³ of forest. We are testing a replicable circular model that, by expanding to other sugar-producing regions in Central Africa, could save thousands of hectares of forest and redefine the domestic energy market.

How Project Affects Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions:

['Replaces/avoids GHGs (e.g., projects that replace sources of GHGs, such as the burning of fossil fuels for electricity, heat, transport, or other energy uses)', 'Reduces GHGs (e.g., projects that reduce sources of GHGs, such as through efficiency or other changes in consumption)', 'Removes/stores GHGs (e.g., projects that capture, sequester, or otherwise enhance the "sinks" that accumulate and store GHGs)']

Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

Our project is intentionally designed to empower women, youth, and forest-adjacent communities—groups disproportionately impacted by deforestation and energy poverty yet underrepresented in climate solutions.

Empowerment through Design:

Women bear the health burden (respiratory illnesses from smoke) and time poverty (wood collection). We place them at the project's economic core: 70% of production group members and 75% of pilot household heads are women. They gain income, leadership roles, and time savings from a cleaner, closer energy source.

Youth (18-35) face high unemployment. We integrate them as producers and technicians, offering green job skills in a growing circular economy sector.

Climate-Vulnerable Communities in Mbandjock/Nkoteng, dependent on shrinking forests, are not beneficiaries but co-owners. They lead the production cooperatives, ensuring the solution is culturally adapted and economically beneficial to them.

Representation in Our Organization:
Our Cameroonian team at SHIELD demonstrates this commitment. Two-thirds of our board of directors are women, 50% of our full-time staff assigned to this project are women, and 100% of team members grew up near SOSUCAM factories. This ensures our strategy is grounded in the lived experience of those we serve, moving beyond consultation to shared leadership.