Africa’s biofuel industry could see a shot in the arm if China moves forward on plans that it announced at the COP21 in Paris in December. The country plans to team up with African nations to start a partnership that would see knowledge about bamboo growth and products, such as bamboo-based biofuels and charcoal briquettes, transferred to other bamboo-growing nations.
The partnership will be overseen by the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), a China-based intergovernmental organization that seeks to use bamboo and rattan to reduce poverty and environmental damage. China will spend a portion of its $3.1-billion fund for South-South cooperation on climate change fund the initiative.
The easy care and quick growth of bamboo make it an ideal plant for removing carbon from the atmosphere, and as a raw material for biofuel and consumer products.