What they say about biochar?

AL GORE - "One of the most exciting new strategies for restoring carbon to depleted soils, and sequestering significant amounts of CO2 for 1,000 years and more, is the use of biochar."

BILL MCKIBBEN - "If you could continually turn a lot of organic material into biochar, you could, over time, reverse the history of the last two hundred years…"

DR. TIM FLANNERY - "Biochar may represent the single most important initiative for humanity's environmental future...."

DR. JAMES LOVELOCK - "There is one way we could save ourselves and that is through the massive burial of charcoal."

From http://unfccc.int/ on the home page that opens, scroll down a bit to Decisions adopted by COP 15 and CMP 5

Look in the right column under CMP, download the PDF named "Further guidance relating to the clean development mechanism"

Paragraph 33 states:

33. Invites interested entities to submit methodologies, considering the current work of the Executive Board and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice, on new technologies that have the potential to reduce in net terms the concentration of carbon or carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere.


Biochar sequestration can be considered not merely carbon neutral, but actually a carbon negative strategy, because it results in a net decrease in atmospheric CO2 and other GHGs over long periods. That is, rather than allowing biomass (which removes carbon from the atmosphere to grow) to decompose and re-emit the CO2 or even produce more potent methane under anaerobic conditions, or by being eaten by termites, etc., pyrolysis will sequester the carbon. This will remove circulating CO2 from the atmosphere and store it in virtually permanent soil carbon pools. In addition, the bio-oil produced can be used to displace fossil liquid fuels, further reducing the net emissions of CO2.

Because the agrichar (biochar) does not readily break down, it could sequester for thousands of years nearly all the carbon it contains, rather than releasing it into the atmosphere as GHG carbon dioxide. It is believed that this soil amendment
could boost agricultural productivity through its ability to retain nutrients and moisture. Terra Preta is a highly productive type of soil created in the Amazon jungle of Brazil by pre-Colombian native Indians, by incorporation of charcoal.