Warnings against claims made by International Biochar Initiative

Campaigners today warn that an international conference on biochar, which will be held in Newcastle, UK from 8 to 10 September, will be misleading governments and the public with claims that biochar – a by-product of second generation agrofuel production – can curb climate change and improve soil fertility.
The International Biochar Initiative (IBI), which is organising the conference, promotes the idea that disastrous climate change can be prevented of we use enormous amounts of biomass for bioenergy, obtain
charcoal as a byproduct and use that charcoal as a fertilizer. They claim this is a “carbon negative” process, and that the charcoal improves soil fertility and carbon sequestration. Unfortunately, their claims are
unfounded and they fail to account for the fact that vast areas of land would have to be turned over to monoculture plantations to produce enough biomass.

eGov Monitor