Habla Zig Zag Kilns is one of only 14 finalists for the inaugural Climate & Clean Air Awards. This is a major achievement for our project, being in the esteemed company of The State of California and The World Bank, to name but a few. See the full list of finalists.
The official press release from the CCAC:
Paris, October 24, 2017: Habla Zig Zag Kilns International (HZZKI) is a finalist for the inaugural Climate and Clean Air Awards for its efforts to significantly reduce short-lived climate pollutants (SLCP’s including black carbon) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions emitted by inefficient South African Clamp kilns.
The Habla Zig-Zag Kiln Technology Transfer Project was nominated for its outstanding clean brick-firing technology and because it is a model that can be replicated throughout the developing world to curb brick sector-air pollution and greenhouse gases.
The unique, proven and independently monitored HZZK project demonstrates a clear reduction of CO2, SLCP’s and particulate emissions; increased energy-efficiency, while also producing “A” quality bricks, reducing brick wastage and improving working conditions.
Habla Zig Zag Kilns offer an innovative and scalable kiln that is versatile and can be configured for both large commercial settings and rural or village settings. High temperatures, turbulent zig-zag air-flow in a long fire zone result in close to 100% fuel combustion.
In real world testing at Worcester Bakstene, South Africa, Habla Zig Zag Kilns reduced CO2 emissions by over 70% compared with South African Clamp Kilns and by more than 60% compared to averages from Indian kilns. They have the lowest CO2 emissions of kiln on the market.
HZZK particulate matter (PM) emissions are also lower than other kiln designs due to the almost complete fuel combustion from turbulent, zigzag air-flow, high temperatures and a long fire zone. Compared to Indian average figures (described by the Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, National Brick Mission Roadmap 2016) HZZK technology provides more than 90% improvement over current the Indian average figures.
About the Award
The Climate and Clean Air Awards recognize exceptional contributions and actions to implement projects, programmes, policies and practices that reduce short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) – black carbon, methane, hydrofluorocarbons and tropospheric ozone.
Reducing these dangerous air and climate pollutants is key to improving air quality, slowing the rate of climate change and provides multiple benefits for health, ecosystems and the sustainable development goals.
The award is global in scope and the nominees cover a wide range of activities and actions from individual efforts to transform a polluting sector to state and national policies that are transforming attitudes, sparking innovation, and providing business opportunities. As a collective, this group of nominees show what real climate action looks like.
Awards will be presented in four categories:
- Individual Achievement: recognizes the efforts by an individual to reduce short-lived climate pollutants.
- Outstanding Policy: recognizes air quality improvement and SLCP reduction policies (and their implementation) that are bold and transformative.
- Innovative Technology: recognizes technological interventions to reduce air pollution and protect the climate that are ground-breaking, accessible and scalable.
- Transformative Action: recognizes an action or activity that has fundamentally changed attitudes, practices, and/or policies related to air pollution and climate change.
An Honorary Award may also be awarded to nominees that are deemed to have considerably contributed to SLCP reduction efforts, awareness, and/or leadership.
2017 winner announcement
The award winners will be announced at a special side event during the United Nations annual climate change meeting, COP23, in Bonn, Germany. The event will take place from 16:45 to 18:15, on November 12, 2017, and will give winners the opportunity to showcase their work to delegates and media.
The 2017 shortlist
The inaugural Climate and Clean Air Awards attracted a large number of stellar candidates. From these 14 were shortlisted by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition’s Steering Committee for consideration by a panel of four judges. You can view the full list here.
Jury Panel
The Jury for the Climate and Clean Air Award are:
- Ms. Annika Markovic, Permanent Representative of Sweden to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),
- Mr. Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, former Minister of State for Environment, Peru, and President of COP 20. He is the current head of WWF’s global climate work.
- Dr. Youba Sokona, Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),
- Mr. Kaveh Zahedi, Deputy Executive Secretary for Sustainable Development a t the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).
About short-lived climate pollutants
The Climate and Clean Air Coalition works to reduce four short-lived climate pollutants: black carbon (or soot), methane, tropospheric (or ground level) ozone, and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). These pollutants are powerful climate forcers many times more potent at warming the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. Some, like black carbon and ozone, also have serious immediate impacts to human health and food security.
The four SLCPs contribute about 40% of the manmade heat energy being added to the planet every year. Reducing emissions of methane, black carbon, and HFCs can help reduce predicted global warming by as much as 0.6 degrees Celsius by 2050, helping to achieve the global goal to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celcius.
Air pollutions is responsible for approximately 6.5 million premature deaths every year and the plant growth. Fully implementing the Coalition’s SLCP reduction measures can prevent 2.5 million premature deaths and avoid up to 52 million tonnes of crop losses every year.
The Coalition works on a range of measures across key polluting sectors – diesel, brick production, municipal solid waste, oil and gas production, agriculture, household energy, and HFCs. It also works to improve national planning and capacity through its SNAP initiative, improves the understanding and actions of the health sector, works to finance SLCP mitigation and increases understanding of the impacts of and solutions to SLCP emissions by carrying out regional assessments.
Information on each pollutant can be found here.
UPDATE: Unfortunately we didn’t win, but we are extremely proud that Habla Zig Zag Kilns were included as a finalist in the company of such a high caliber of projects.