Earthworm Foundation, formerly The Forest Trust, is a non-profit organization built on shared values and motivated by the desire to positively impact the relationship between people and nature.
Earthworm Foundation works on the entire charcoal supply chain, from the forest to the finished product sold to the final consumer.
We help the members of our organization trace their charcoal back to the source, with the aim of bringing total transparency to the supply chain and ensuring the absence of links with deforestation / degradation and exploitation of workers. We work with retailers, importers and charcoal producers to help them establish and implement responsible purchasing policies.
p>
responsible charcoal is the answere given by Earthworm Foundation to face the opacity of the sector. This concept focuses on producing charcoal in a transparent way that is free from any social and environmental risks along the supply chain, from the forest to the consumer.
Based on our field experience, responsible charcoal must meet the following criteria :
To be considered responsible, the wood used for charcoal production must come from undisturbed, non-degraded and sustainably managed forests - this explains the need for transparency to trace the charcoal back to the origin of the wood.
Learn more : Did you know thatthere is a piece of forest inside your charcoal bag ? Want to know more about our zero deforestation approach and our assessment methodology ? Clic here to learn more
To be considered responsible, workers' rights must be respected and their working conditions must be decent.
Learn more : working as a charcoal producer in a messy atmosphere makes this job very difficult. Want to know more about our Zero Exploitation / Respect approach? Click here.
The environmental impact of charcoal production varies according to the carbonization technologies used. To be considered responsible, the charcoal must preferentially be produced using low-polluting technologies and the through clear traceability and quality processes.
Learn more: Did you know that between 4 to 12 kg of wood are necessary for the production of 1kg of coal? Do you want to discover how the wood is transformed into charcoal as well as our evaluation methodology? Click here.
To be considered responsible, it is essential to know exactly where the wood used to produce the charcoal comes from. A transparent supply chain, from the forest to the consumer, requires precise identification of each link in this chain. At the production level, this implies a precise quantification of incoming wood and imported charcoal produced outside of the factory. Transparency is the key to guarantee responsible charcoal. Learn more : Click here.
Since 2013, Earthworm Foundation (formerly The Forest Trust) has been working with major retailers, importers and producers of charcoal, as well as other players, to transform supply chains.
In recent years, Eathworm Foundation has introduced innovations to make
European charcoal more responsible:
Charcoal Control System : Created in 2014, our field diagnostic tool Charcoal Control System (CCS) is part of our “beyond certification” approach. Earthworm teams go on the field to demand transparency to create trust, establish and implement tools for continuous improvement in factories. Earthworm evaluates factories on the traceability, health and safety, production, environmental impacts and practices of their timber suppliers. Earthworm then makes recommendations to help factories produce more responsible charcoal. These visits allow charcoal suppliers to provide guarantees to buyers. This CCS tool is the basis of the factory assessment and the first step for editing a product story. To date, Earthworm has completed more than 150 field visits in more than 12 countries. Learn more.
Charcoal bags analysis: Created at the end of 2014, this method contributed to changes in market practices, bringing even more transparency. To solve the problems of opacity, Earthworm has developed and implemented a simple but effective method to reveal the contents of charcoal bags and measure the level of transparency of the brands selling charcoal on the European market. We do not claim to be a professional laboratory and have developed this method with scientific partners. This method has inspired other NGOs, journalists and is now included in some certification standards. Learn more
Charcoal Transparency Initiative : In 2019, Earthworm launches its platform for the European charcoal industry to bring more transparency with two main objectives: