EDF report recommends standards for biochar carbon credits

Environmental Defense Fund has published a new report analyzing five biochar carbon market protocols to improve the integrity and transparency of biochar crediting in the Voluntary Carbon Marketplace (VCM).

• Main action: The report analyzes 5 different biochar carbon market protocols and issues recommendations to ensure robust crediting in the VCM, calling for strengthened uncertainty accounting, identification of alternative feedstock uses, standardized leakage definitions, continued research on biochar durability/permanence, and creation of a centralized registry to prevent double counting.
• Background and details: The report notes biochar stores carbon for decades to potentially hundreds of years when applied to soils or used in building materials; it emphasizes that climate benefits depend on whether the feedstock would otherwise decompose or have higher-mitigation alternative uses (e.g., bioenergy), and it highlights specific protocol gaps on leakage, uncertainty, permanence, additionality, and baselines.