Biochar

Biochar is a fine-grained, porous charcoal-like product formed from the thermochemical combustion of biomass in the partial or total absence of oxygen. Properly produced and utilized as a soil amendment, biochar offers one of the world’s only carbon-negative technologies for helping to combat global climate change, while also revitalizing and enhancing the health and fertility of the world’s soils. If practiced on a large enough scale, biochar production and utilization could offer a low-technology, high-impact tool to help reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases.

Biochar systems in the rural and developing country context can also help to alleviate soil degradation, desertification, and poverty, while enhancing food and agricultural security, energy security, and sustainability.