Burn, baby, burn: Why it’s time Tanzania embraced coal

The government’s fixation with imported LPG gas is a case study in political delusion. Consider a rural mother in Tabora: she gathers free firewood but is now told to buy LPG at Sh3,600 per kilogramme—a price more than double that of Tanzania’s own LNG. This doesn’t sit well with me: I think there is something very wrong with using taxpayers’ money to promote foreign imports while ignoring local solutions.

Coal offers a stark contrast. In Ruvuma, two businesswomen that I met last year produce coal briquettes and sell them at Sh500 per kilogramme. One kilogramme cooks meals for three hours—triple the efficiency of charcoal, which requires 2–3 kilogrammes, which may cost around Sh3,000. Yet this local solution is ignored even as forests vanish at 400,000 hectares annually, an area equivalent to 10 percent of Serengeti National Park.

Coal is beautiful

Coal is African. Consider the rich, smoky allure of grilled beef, a flavour inseparable from charcoal’s earthy embrace. Would you compare that to the pretentious beef grilled in electric ovens? This is very African, and it transcends cuisine: coal embodies a practical heritage rooted in accessibility and simplicity.

There is more. Coal is 2.5 more energy-efficient than charcoal, emits less CO₂ per unit of energy, and costs a fraction of both imported LPG and charcoal. Paired with efficient stoves, coal briquettes slash deforestation, cut household costs, and curb emissions. Why sidelining a solution rooted quite literally in our soil?

Climate purity vs rationality

Tanzania’s coal reserves—estimated to be as much as 5 billion tonnes—could power East Africa for a century. Yet while China builds two coal plants weekly and the US approves thousands of oil and gas permits, Tanzania exports its coal and feigns climate purity. This is self-sabotage.

While Africa contributes only 3 percent of global emissions, the US, EU, and China account for 52 percent. Why outsource our coal to fuel others’ growth while our mothers trek for firewood and factories sit idle? Climate rationality demands equity: nations that industrialised on fossil fuels keep using fossil fuels like no one business while an underdeveloped East African nation is dragging its feet. Why?

Powering progress

Tanzania’s energy crisis isn’t theoretical. Hydropower falters under drought and transmission losses cripple grids. At the moment, only coal offers true stable baseload solutions, immune to these flaws. Why not build a 200MW coal power plant in every region—about 5GW of electric power in the next five years—and permanently erase the transmission losses issue while powering homes and industrialising the nation? That’s why we need to take a good look at ourselves whenever we export coal to fuel development of other nations while we ignore it at home.

My advice to the government is to pivot the Sh4.6 trillion plan decisively to Tanzanian solutions: prioritise localised coal plants in the North and Lake Zone to end blackouts and fuel industry growth; replace deforestation-driving charcoal with affordable coal briquettes, slashing household costs while saving 400,000 hectares of forests annually; leverage our vast LNG reserves to power cities in the long term; ditch costly LPG imports; and demand the Global North honour its $100 billion a year climate pledge to fund Africa’s renewable transition—a moral obligation for historical polluters. This strategy isn’t about loving coal—it’s about putting Tanzania first. This way, coal is a bridge, not a destination. It can fund schools, power factories, and bankroll solar farms.

But first, we must embrace it.

Burn, baby, burn

Let’s be clear: there is a global hypocrisy surrounding the climate change issue which underscores the need for a localised energy strategy. Critics may label coal advocacy as reckless, but nations built on centuries of coal and oil are issuing more and more permits for fossil fuel development and for building power plants. With over 600 million Africans lacking electricity, every tree felled for charcoal is a threat. We need to reject idealistic fantasies and keep our feet on the ground. Tanzania must assert its right to harness its coal to create wealth. For a mother in a village, a child studying using a kerosene lamp, or a nurse delivering babies in darkness, coal isn’t a climate genocide—it’s survival.

Coal is good. When Donald Trump barked, “Drill, baby, drill,” he wasn’t advocating for Africa—but we didn’t miss the lesson from his speech. Tanzania will lose nothing by embracing coal. But we risk everything by clinging to imported fantasies. Let us stop chasing idealistic “clean” energy dreams that ignore the daily struggles of our people. A phased, pragmatic approach that leverages our natural resources will save our forests and, most importantly, put Tanzanians first.

Charles Makakala is a Technology and Management Consultant based in Dar es Salaam