Biochar is a carbon-rich material formed by high-temperature conversion of biomass under reduced oxygen conditions. Its production is one of the only established carbon dioxide removal (CDR) methods recognized by the IPCC that can also be scaled quickly enough to counteract the effects of climate change within the next decade.
This webinar focused upon a newly published paper that quantifies, for the first time, biochar production's carbon removal potential at ~6% per year on a global scale, the equivalent of India's annual emissions or removing 803 coal power plants. The paper's framework also quantifies the potential contribution biochar can make toward achieving national carbon emissions reduction goals in 155 countries, making biochar from only sustainably supplied biomass, i.e., non-commercial residues from existing agricultural, livestock, forestry, and wastewater treatment operations.
Two of the paper's authors and the International Biochar Initiative, which sponsored this research, served as panelists to discuss biochar carbon removal as a circular climate change solution that should be a part of every country's climate change policy and action plan
Panelists:
Dr. David Lefebvre, Lead-author, and Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British Columbia
Dr. Thomas Trabold, Co-author, and Research Professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology’s Golisano Institute for Sustainability
Wendy Lu Maxwell-Barton, Executive Director, International Biochar Initiative
Moderator:
Wil Burns, Co-Director, Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy