Scaling a low-cost intervention to cut emissions from South Asian brick kilns

Coal-fired brick kilns across Southeast Asia affect global warming as much as the entire U.S. passenger car fleet, and in India alone, brick kiln air pollution resulted in an estimated 24,100 excess adult deaths in 2015. This project will scale Zigzag 2.0 — a low-cost intervention that trains kiln managers and workers on operational practices that reduce coal consumption by 26 percent and carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent. Over three years, the team will convert 100+ kilns per year in Bangladesh, develop a marketing strategy for selling carbon credits generated by these upgrades, and use credit revenue to fund further kiln conversions — establishing a self-sustaining model for reducing industrial emissions across South Asia.

Above: Brick kilns in Bangladesh. Image credit: Saeed Munim