Verra is pleased to announce that the Methodology for Biochar Utilization in Soil and Non-Soil Applications is open for a 30-day public consultation from 10 August through 8 September 2021. Biochar is a carbon-rich, solid material made from feedstock biomass that offers many compelling climate benefits. When incorporated into soils, it is 10 to 100 times more stable than the feedstock from which it was produced, and a substantial amount of biochar’s organic carbon will persist in soil for decades to millennia. Biochar also offers environmental and agricultural benefits such as nutrient retention, improved water holding capacity, and increased aeration.

Verra worked with a consortium of experts, including FORLIANCE, South Pole, and BiocharWorks, to develop this methodology for biochar activities under Verra’s flagship Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Program.

The methodology provides a framework for quantifying emission reductions and removals from:

  1. Improved waste handling practices that result in the production of biochar from feedstock biomass;
  2. The use of biochar in soils; and
  3. Certain non-soil material applications such as cement or asphalt.

Use of the methodology is intended to drive additional finance toward biochar projects and help realize biochar’s global climate change mitigation potential, which is up to 1.1 billion tCO2e per year globally.

On 10 August, Verra hosted a webinar to introduce the proposed methodology:

Watch the Recording

Access the Slide Deck

If you have any questions, please contact Liz Guinessey, Senior Program Officer, Innovations (eguinessey@verra.org).