Advancing Biochar: Carbon Standards, Quality Assurance and National Regulatory Frameworks

CBEA members during the Monthly Call

The CBEA Monthly Call brought together members and practitioners to discuss an increasingly important issue in the growing biochar sector: The session featured a presentation by Anna Schniepper, Lead Policy & Government Engagement at Carbon Standards, who shared valuable insights into biochar certification, carbon markets and the evolving regulatory landscape governing biochar projects.

The discussion highlighted the significant potential of biochar to connect circular biomass management, agricultural applications and durable carbon removal. This opportunity is particularly relevant in Africa, where agricultural and agro-industrial residues can be responsibly transformed into valuable products. However, realizing this potential requires more than simply producing biochar. Projects need to demonstrate safe production and appropriate end use, deliver a net climate benefit across the value chain, and protect soils, water, air quality, biodiversity and communities. They must also promote fair participation and locally appropriate benefit-sharing. Importantly, biochar should complement rather than undermine food production, soil health, ecosystem protection or other higher-value uses of biomass.

It was interesting to note that biochar quality goes far beyond carbon content. Quality begins with the use of appropriate, traceable and legally sourced feedstock and extends through the entire production process. Projects need to control pyrolysis conditions, manage process emissions, undertake appropriate sampling and laboratory analysis, and confirm carbon characteristics, contaminant limits and fitness for the intended end use. Attention must also be given to dust, fire, worker health and handling risks, as well as the protection of soils, water and local air quality during the storage, transportation and application of biochar. Proper documentation and traceability are equally important, enabling regulators, users and verifiers to understand what was produced, how it was produced and where it was ultimately used.

Anna also provided insights into the work of Carbon Standards International, which creates a reliable and innovative framework to empower and lead organizations in the Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) market and target exponential growth since 2012.

The biochar methodology family covers distributed artisan and industrial production settings, with another methodology under development for intermediate-scale production. Carbon Standards currently has more than 100 certified operations across more than 30 countries and has issued 800,000 tCO₂e of biochar C-Sinks, with 80% transferred or retired. The overall objective is to connect safe, traceable biochar production with credible carbon-removal accounting.

During the call, members also examined the growing importance of national regulatory frameworks. As countries develop and expand carbon-market regulations, biochar projects increasingly need to address both carbon-market requirements and sectoral rules covering feedstocks, product use, environmental protection and social safeguards. While durable carbon removal remains relatively new to many public institutions, regulatory engagement is increasing. This evolving environment should not only be viewed as a compliance challenge but also as an opportunity for the biochar sector to engage governments early around a tangible, testable and durable carbon-removal pathway. The physical nature of biochar can also support regulatory oversight because governments can inspect the product, test it and trace its production and application.

National carbon frameworks are particularly important because countries are responsible for tracking emissions reductions and removals within their borders as part of meeting their Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement. This means governments need visibility over project registration, verification and registry arrangements, credit issuance and retirement, potential international transfers, social and environmental safeguards, environmental permits and product or sectoral approvals. Requirements differ from one country to another, and a robust carbon standard or registry does not replace host-country law or automatically provide the right to issue, export or market carbon credits. For this reason, projects are encouraged to engage relevant national authorities early, before major project and commercial decisions are fixed.

For biochar project developers and producers, the presentation offered a practical message: regulatory readiness needs to be incorporated into project design from the beginning. This means understanding the national carbon, environmental, waste and product frameworks in detail, identifying and engaging the Designated National Authority at the project-design stage, engaging the relevant registry early, defining the intended buyer and claims pathway, and understanding any potential authorization requirements. Projects should also be prepared for iterative approval processes, particularly when seeking to participate in compliance markets.

The presentation concluded with a strong vision for the future of the sector: more quality pyrolysis and less project paralysis. The biochar sector will scale effectively when projects, standards, registries, communities and governments work together. Quality and safe production, conservative carbon accounting supported by digital monitoring, reporting and verification (dMRV), independent verification, national regulatory alignment, environmental protection and social legitimacy must develop together. As questions from buyers, investors, communities and governments become more detailed, biochar projects will need to respond by building traceability, safeguards and regulatory readiness into their design from the outset.

For CBEA, the discussion reinforced the importance of knowledge sharing, capacity development and constructive engagement between practitioners, policymakers, standards organizations and other stakeholders. Through its Monthly Calls and other platforms, CBEA continues to create opportunities for members to learn from experts, exchange experiences and contribute to the development of a credible, responsible and thriving circular bionutrient economy across Africa.

CBEA remains committed to Building Africa’s Circular Bionutrient Future.

 By Erick O. Abala

Head of Communications-CBEA