Short Summary
Training the owners and operators of brick kilns is a cheap and effective way of reducing air pollution and GHGs, and it is currently highly neglected.
If successful, this charity will be among the most cost-effective climate-oriented charities, at around USD 2 per ton of CO2-equivalent averted.
The Problem
What’s the problem?
Brick kilns—i.e., processing plants where bricks are burnt—constitute a significant source of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. This is especially true in South Asia, where low-tech artisanal brick kilns are widespread, typically burning coal as fuel.
In addition, they are significant emitters of greenhouse gases (GHGs), responsible for between 3 and 6% of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in India and up to 10% in Bangladesh.
Why does it matter?
Air pollution from brick kilns is estimated to be responsible for around 60,000 premature deaths annually in South Asia. As a significant emitter of GHGs, they also contribute to global warming.
Neglectedness:
Governments in the region have tried to regulate the sector, but progress has so far been limited. The reasons for this are varied and include limited state capacity to enforce regulations and the fact that most brick kilns are informal businesses, making governments unwilling to invest money in them.
Other than a team scaling a training intervention in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India, we are unaware of any other major government or non-profit actors that focus on teaching brick kiln owners and operators energy-efficient practices.
The Solution
What’s the proposed solution?
This charity will design and deliver targeted training for the owners and workers of brick kilns, teaching them a set of best practices that reduce the need for fuel and increase fuel burning efficiency, both of which result in lower emissions. While some of these practices are simple in theory – such as correct brick stacking and continuous fuel feeding—the training needs to be tailored to the needs of the local brick kiln industry and delivered in a culturally sensitive way for it to be adopted. A lack of this kind of adaptation has been a barrier to the success of some previous training attempts.
Why do we trust this solution?
This idea primarily relies on one high-quality, large-scale randomized controlled trial (Brooks et al., 2025), which found a 20% emissions reduction among kilns that adopted the target practices. The intervention also increased kiln owners’ profits, which motivated its high uptake.
How robust is the evidence?
The trial seemed to have been designed and delivered to a high standard. However, the 95% confidence interval of its effect-size estimates is quite wide (5.6%–34.2%), meaning the actual effect could be considerably smaller or greater than the headline result.
The Impact
What impact could this have?
We estimate that if this charity reached 500 kilns per year, it would avert 1750 DALYs and 232,000 tons of CO2-equivalent per year.
Estimated cost-effectiveness:
USD 150–300/DALY
USD 1.60–4.70/ton of CO2-equivalent
Ideal Founder Profile
Who is best suited to do this?*
While we believe that this charity can be co-founded by a strong generalist, there are several characteristics that could prove to be a major advantage: Having background in qualitative research (to be able to design a locally-tailored intervention), having background in engineering (to be able to understand the details of brick-making), and being from India (to be better able to form rapport with the kiln owners).
The founders will also need to be comfortable with the fact that brick kilns often involve work that violates human rights, such as forced work or child labor. While we don’t forsee a personal risk to the founders or a risk that this charity will make these violations counterfactually worse, the founders will have to have the ability to operate in an environment where such rights violations happen.
*We think candidates with the following skills will have a comparative advantage/be especially promising for founding this idea, but we would like to still encourage applicants from people who do not match this criteria who are enthusiastic about this idea and believe they may be well-suited for reasons not captured here
