· 5 min read
In the heart of South America, nestled within the vast greenery of Bolivia’s forests, a quiet revolution is unfolding. It bridges traditional forest practices with modern climate technology — and reveals how carbon credits are created, verified, and ultimately retired. A new documentary featuring Exomad Green and Carbonfuture brings this story to life, showing how carbon removal can be both measurable and meaningful.
This short film captures the full lifecycle of a biochar carbon credit, from selective harvesting to biochar production, and from rigorous monitoring to final market integration. But beyond technical processes, it highlights something far more important: the tangible impacts that carbon removal projects can have on ecosystems, communities, and climate resilience.
A story that needed to be told
The world hears frequently about net-zero commitments, offset markets, and carbon credits — but what’s often missing is visibility into how those credits are generated, and what they actually represent. This documentary fills that gap. It doesn’t just explain carbon removal; it shows it, with a ground-level view of the people, technologies, and ecosystems involved.
The focus here is on biochar, a powerful climate solution. Created by transforming biomass into a stable, carbon-rich material, biochar can lock away carbon for centuries. In addition to field application, research is underway to explore biochar’s wider potential — in energy systems, urban infrastructure, water filtration and more. By documenting how this process works in practice, the film helps build broader trust in both the science and the integrity of carbon removal credits.
The journey to a verified credit
The story begins in the Bolivian forests, where sustainable forest management has been practiced for decades. Rather than exploiting forest resources, this model emphasizes selectivity, balance, and preservation — allowing timber to be harvested while maintaining biodiversity and forest health. At the sawmills, however, only around 55% of the log is used. The rest is typically incinerated or dumped into rivers, wasting biomass and releasing GHG.
This is where Exomad Green comes in. By collecting and recycling this residual biomass from third-party owned sawmills, the company prevents emissions from incineration and transforms a waste stream into a carbon-negative asset. Using pyrolysis, the waste is converted into biochar — a process that sequesters atmospheric CO₂ and yields a versatile material with growing applications.
As of 2025, Exomad Green operates two facilities sequestering over 120,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually, with expansion efforts underway to bring that total to 260,000 tonnes before year’s end. Construction has already begun on a third and significantly larger facility, further accelerating our path toward removing one megaton of carbon dioxide. This momentum is underscored by our landmark 10-year agreement with Microsoft, which secures the removal of 1.26 million tonnes — a strong signal of confidence in durable, nature-based climate solutions. Every single ton tracked from cradle to grave with Carbonfuture's monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) software).
Once produced, the biochar doesn’t sit idle. Through a dedicated donation program, it’s distributed to Indigenous communities and local farmers working to restore degraded soils and prevent deforestation linked to soil degradation. Years of overuse and climate stress have impacted land productivity in the region, and biochar has proven to be a valuable ally in restoring soil health and resilience.
Lessons from the circular sustainable economy
Filming this story in the Bolivian lowlands provided more than footage — it brought perspective. One of the most striking takeaways was witnessing how dense, vibrant, and largely untouched parts of the forest remain, even near zones of activity. This balance, made possible through sustainable forest management, offers a powerful counter-narrative to deforestation: that natural resource use and ecological preservation don’t have to be at odds.
The visual contrast between raw forest, active sawmills, and biochar facilities also highlights a key lesson: the climate crisis isn’t just fought in boardrooms or labs — it’s happening on the ground, in real time, often in places that rarely receive attention.
Filmmaking in the climate space
Capturing this story on film was both a challenge and a responsibility. Climate filmmaking often risks being either too abstract or too pessimistic. But the creators wanted to tell a story grounded in reality.
Bringing cameras into remote sawmills, biochar sites, and Indigenous communities wasn’t easy, but it was necessary. They wanted to bring visibility not only to their carbon credits, but to the people and ecosystems behind them.
This film was made possible through the combined efforts of Sebastian Manhart, Carbonfuture, Tree Media’s Mathew Schmid & Leila Conners, and the dedicated collaboration of the Exomad Green team and partners on the ground.
What emerges is not just a climate story, but a human story — one that shows how innovation, friendship, tradition, and accountability can intersect to address one of the planet’s most pressing challenges.
By making the invisible visible, this documentary offers both transparency and hope. It serves as a reminder that carbon removal isn’t a distant or abstract concept — it’s happening now, in forests, farms, and facilities that are reshaping how we think about sustainability.
illuminem Voices is a democratic space presenting the thoughts and opinions of leading Sustainability & Energy writers, their opinions do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.
