This simple farming technique can capture carbon for thousands of years

illuminem summarizes for you the essential news of the day. Read the full piece on Grist or enjoy below:

🗞️ Driving the news: Farmers globally are turning waste biomass into biochar, a technique that sequesters carbon for thousands of years while enhancing soil fertility
•  In Kenya, this method is transforming invasive plants into valuable resources, improving crop yields and providing a new income source

🔭 The context: Biochar is produced through pyrolysis, which involves heating biomass in low-oxygen environments
•  This process creates a carbon-rich product that helps soils retain water and nutrients, offering an alternative to traditional biomass burning that releases carbon into the atmosphere

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: Biochar’s ability to lock carbon in the soil for millennia makes it a powerful tool in combating climate change, offering a more reliable carbon offset than reforestation alone

⏭️ What's next: As biochar’s popularity grows, the global market could surge to over $3 billion by next year
•  Increased adoption could significantly enhance smallholder farmers' resilience to climate change while providing substantial carbon removal credits

💬 One quote: “Biochar, it’s kind of chemically locked in — it’d be very difficult to reverse that,” said James Gerber, a data scientist at Project Drawdown

📈 One stat: The biochar market was valued at $600 million in 2023, with projections to exceed $3 billion by 2025

Click for more news covering the latest on carbon capture & storage