Summertime is barbecue season! Whether in the garden, on the balcony, or in the park, you can also actively protect the environment here. If you don't want to support the deforestation of tropical rainforests, you should take a closer look when buying barbecue charcoal.

Unfortunately, charcoal that is produced by clearing tropical and subtropical forests is still allowed to be sold, even though there are alternatives. Every year, thousands of tons of charcoal are imported to Germany from all over the world. In 2015, the figure was around 230,000 tons (according to the Federal Statistical Office). Although the largest quantity comes from Poland, more than a quarter of all charcoal imports come from South America, Africa, and Asia—and are therefore produced from tropical woods.

To avoid contributing to the overexploitation of the Earth's green lungs for the sake of a little barbecue charcoal, it is therefore advisable to only use barbecue charcoal from European forests. However, this is not always easy when buying barbecue charcoal – take a closer look at the packaging to see where the product comes from. If there is no information on the packaging about the origin of the charcoal, it is highly likely that tropical wood was used in its production. This is true even if the packaging says "no tropical wood." Even statements such as "from managed forests" or "natural product" are more likely to be advertising slogans than truthful product information without an indication of origin or a trustworthy seal of approval.

There are several alternatives to barbecue charcoal made from tropical wood:

FSC-certified wood

"The FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) was founded in 1993 following the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit. The FSC is a non-governmental, non-profit organization that promotes the environmentally friendly, socially responsible, and economically viable use of the world's forests." (FSC)

FSC-certified charcoal bearing the corresponding seal is an environmentally friendly alternative, but only if the charcoal comes from European deciduous forests.

Barbecue charcoal from Naturland

The "Naturland – Verband für ökologischen Landbau e. V." (Naturland Association for Organic Agriculture) was founded in 1982 with the aim of promoting organic farming at regional, national, and global levels. The Naturland seal is an association organic seal and guarantees higher standards than the EU organic seal. Barbecue charcoal with the Naturland seal, preferably from local beech trees, is also recommended without restriction.

Barbecuing with agricultural waste products

Ecological barbecuing can also be done with olive pits, grapevines, or coconut shells. These agricultural waste products can be found mainly in organic shops and on the Internet.