Better practices for including traditional firewood in LCA: Lessons from a shea butter case study in Burkina Faso

Firewood is a key energy source in developing countries, but its consideration for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) purposes suffers from both data and methodological issues. A specific literature review revealed considerable variability in the way these issues have been addressed in existing studies. To improve current practices, a framework for proper inclusion of all environmental impacts related to traditional firewood uses is proposed, and a configurable dataset for other studies was produced. The framework was then applied to a case study on shea butter production, where firewood accounting appeared to be one of the main sources of discrepancies in the results of existing studies. For each parameter related to firewood uses and their impacts, data and methodological choices that LCA practitioners may face were then investigated through uncertainty and sensitivity analyses. Firewood consumption volumes and emission factors from firewood combustion proved to be the most critical parameters for all environmental issues, and the options explored in this study to tackle these data collection issues can be adapted to other case studies. Beyond data matters, the main methodological challenge for firewood accounting lies in estimating the fraction of firewood from non-renewable sources. Use of the default values from the spatially explicit supply-demand WISDOM model is recommended here. For the shea butter value chain in Burkina Faso, one of the main solutions for mitigating environmental impacts would be to reduce firewood consumption by promoting improved cookstoves, improving boiling practices, or replacing firewood with other biomass sources, such as shea nutshells. •An exhaustive framework for firewood inclusion in LCA is proposed.•The framework is operationalized through a configurable dataset.•It was tested in an original case study on shea butter in Burkina Faso.•Firewood consumption volumes and emission factors were the most critical data.•Solutions to improve Emission Factors for firewood combustion were identified.