The Emerging Biochar Carbon Market In India
With abundant biomass and lower production costs, India and the Global South are emerging as powerhouses in the biochar carbon market
PICTURE COURTESY: ruralsprout.com
Biochar, a charcoal-like substance produced from biomass. Biochar, a stable form of carbon created from organic materials, such as agricultural crop residues and forestry trimmings, has emerged as a leading technology in delivering durable carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technology. It has been boasting a potential removal of up to 6% of global emissions annually and is increasingly integrated into voluntary carbon markets as a way to sequester carbon. Biochar is highly resistant to decomposition, enabling long-term carbon sequestration.
Today’s world faces an unprecedented challenge of climate change, due to accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the Earth’s atmosphere. Extreme weather events, heat waves, rising sea levels, and ecosystem disruption underscore the urgent need for comprehensive strategies to reduce emissions and mitigate their impact. Fulfilling this need biochar market is seeing significant investment and growing very fast. Global Biochar Market has already crossed the $600 Million. With abundant biomass and lower production costs, India and the Global South are emerging as powerhouses in the biochar carbon market.
Beside carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies, the carbon market has emerged as a pivotal tool in incentivizing and facilitating emissions reductions across industrial sectors, especially after CBAM. Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is a European Union policy which puts a tax on carbon emissions from imported goods. Its the Emission Trading System (ETS), a carbon tariff or import duty on carbon-intensive goods entering the EU.
Biochar has gained recognition as one of potential carbon offset solution. The practical and cost-effective establishment of biochar carbon credit standards is crucial for the integration of biochar into carbon trading systems, thus encouraging investments in the biochar industry while promoting sustainable carbon dioxide sequestration practices on a global scale.
According to the principle of the carbon market (Emission Trading System each ton of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) emission is assigned a price , thus turning it into a trading commodity. This enables the exchange of both carbon emissions and carbon removals, referred to as offsets. This exchange is facilitated by the marketplace platform. Carbon credit is a permission to generate and emit one ton of dioxide carbon (CO2), and it can be bought in this marketplace.
Within this landscape, the role of biochar in the carbon market has gained recognition as a unique and sustainable approach to the carbon offset mechanism. In agricultural, biochar is called as ‘black gold’ due to its extremely beneficial effects on soils and plant growth. It is a carbon-rich material formed by slow pyrolysis— heating biomass under an oxygen-limited environment so that it does not fully combust. Charcoal is biochar produced from woody biomass. While charcoal from woody biomass is used as fuel, biochar is designed for soil application. Biochar holds the promise of being a game-changer in the field of carbon credits and climate change mitigation.
Certification to obtain the carbon credits, remains a major hurdle for biochar producers, With fees as high as ₹6 lakh. Especially for small biochar producers. A Gurgaon based organisation Varha works with small stakeholders in India to train them to follow certification norms, document production through its geo-tagged mobile app, and register the biochar through the Global Biochar Registry. Which authenticates the carbon credits.
The writer of this article is Dr. Seema Javed, an environmentalist & a communications professional in the field of climate and energy
