This thesis investigates social impacts of charcoal use in households in the Tanzanian town Babati. In Tanzania a majority of the population use charcoal and firewood as their main energy source. A part from the environmental problems connected to charcoal use; there are also considerable social impacts on women’s daily lives. Cooking and collection of wood fuel are time-consuming and restricts the possibilities for women to work and study. The thesis includes an investigation on how the Tanzanian government tackles problems connected to charcoal use, social as well as environmental. The result shows that the Tanzanian government is working with charcoal related problems to some extent but as previous studies shows there are still more that can be done. The main efforts made concentrate on information campaigns and promotion of more energy efficient equipments. One important problem is however that wood fuel is the cheapest available energy source and hence the incentives to start using other, more sustainable, energy sources are very small. The thesis also investigates possibilities for Babati households to substitute charcoal use with renewable energy sources available in the town. The result shows that the possibilities to use renewable energy currently are very limited and mainly affordable to richer households.