Whitepaper
Biochar Europe White Paper: Biochar-based carbon sinks to mitigate climate change
14 October, 2020
The urgency of the ongoing climate change is increasing. There is no doubt that emissions must be drastically reduced at all levels, but that is not enough. To prevent the worst consequences of climate change, additional carbon sinks, so-called negative emissions, are needed. A recently published whitepaper clearly and scientifically substantiates that biochar is a key technology in this fight against climate change.
Reports of droughts and crop failures, devastating forest fires, but also of heavy rainfall and erosion accompany our daily lives. Many of us are already affected by this directly.
A “business as usual” is no longer justifiable. Even with a drastic reduction in our emissions, we can no longer comply with the Paris Climate Agreement (2015), which aims to limit global warming to well below 2°.This requires, in addition to the reduction of emissions, an active removal of carbon from the atmosphere the creation of carbon sinks.
This is where biochar can make a crucial contribution as a nature-based solution: in addition to forestry and humus creation, it represents a currently available and scalable key technology in the fight for climate protection. When plant material is carbonized through the process of pyrolysis, the carbon it contains remains captured in the form of biochar. This can be used, for example, to improve the soil. In this way, the CO2 remains sequestered from the atmosphere over the long term.
In addition to its function as a carbon store, biochar can help to reduce emissions from agriculture, support soil regeneration, promote animal welfare and reduce nitrogen losses.
The use of biochar in agriculture is therefore a climate service that is already remunerated as such. A carbon sink economy is needed to ensure that carbon sinks are created to the necessary extent. Biochar Europe has published a Whitepaper on how this can be implemented and how great the potential is for biochar-based carbon sinks.
Download the White Paper HERE.