Biochar offers an accelerated pathway to global decarbonisation

The first-of-its-kind data highlights biochar’s potential to scale carbon removals as a win-win solution for people and the planet

Ground-breaking new research shows that carbon removal solution biochar can play a significant role in global emissions reductions at the global and national levels. The ancient farming practice can help countries mitigate climate change threats and decarbonise at scale while also adapting to the effects of climate change and unlocking economic and social benefits.

First developed by Indigenous communities in the Amazon thousands of years ago and now a rapidly expanding global industry, biochar is a material created by heating organic materials — such as forestry and crop residues — that would otherwise release emissions when decomposing. By converting these materials into biochar instead, carbon is locked for centuries to millennia. When used as a soil amendment, biochar can improve soil health and increase water and nutrient retention in soils, helping to both mitigate against and adapt to the effects of climate change.

Published in the peer-reviewed journal Biochar and commissioned by the International Biochar Initiative (IBI), the research quantifies biochar’s CDR potential across 155 countries, with net removal potential on a national and global scale, assuming a sustainable supply of no purpose-grown biomass quantities. Currently providing the vast majority of delivered carbon credits, biochar is an affordable, scalable, and readily available solution that, unlike other CDR methods, also provides environmental and social co-benefits like improved soil health leading to increased crop yields.

“This is the first research to quantify the significant role biochar can play in worldwide climate action and carbon removal strategies, at the level of individual countries. To scale biochar to its full potential, we now have a starting point of what is possible at the country level. By considering the climate impact of co-benefits such as fossil fuel displacement, improved crop yields, and healthier soil, we can also go farther, getting a better picture of biochar’s complete climate solution potential,” said Dr Thomas Trabold, co-author and research professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology’s Golisano Institute for Sustainability. 

The report’s consideration of small-emitting countries is particularly significant. Though many small-emitting countries have contributed the least to climate change, they are experiencing its impacts disproportionately, from soil erosion to extreme weather. Biochar offers a circular and sustainable approach to climate change mitigation, giving these countries the opportunity to maximize carbon removal while increasing national and local revenues. It makes agricultural production more sustainable at all scales, from protecting soil security to creating employment opportunities at the community and commercial levels. For farmers facing multiple challenges related to climate change, biochar is a game-changer.

The first-of-its-kind data highlights biochar's potential to