{"id":50766,"date":"2025-08-07T19:18:28","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T13:48:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=50766"},"modified":"2025-08-07T19:32:50","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T14:02:50","slug":"biochar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/07-08-2025\/biochar","title":{"rendered":"Biochar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus :GS3\/Environment&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>In News<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India\u2019s carbon market is expected to rely on CO\u2082 removal technologies like <strong>biochar<\/strong>, which will play a key role in meeting climate goals and offsetting emissions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Biochar<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It is black carbon produced from biomass sources [i.e., wood chips, plant residues, manure or other agricultural waste products] for the purpose of transforming the biomass carbon into a more stable form (carbon sequestration).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It offers a sustainable alternative to manage waste and capture carbon.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Status in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India generates vast amounts of agricultural and municipal waste, much of which is burned or dumped, causing pollution.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Utilizing 30\u201350% of this surplus to produce biochar could remove 0.1 gigatonnes of CO\u2082 annually.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Byproducts like syngas and bio-oil could generate 8\u201313 TWh of electricity and offset up to 8% of diesel\/kerosene use, reducing coal demand and cutting over 2% of India\u2019s fossil fuel emissions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Significance\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Biochar is a durable carbon sink that can store carbon in soil for 100\u20131,000 years and offers scalable emission reduction across sectors.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In agriculture, it improves water retention and can cut nitrous oxide emissions by 30\u201350%.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u00a0It also<strong> restores soil health<\/strong> by enhancing organic carbon.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Modified <strong>biochar can capture CO\u2082 from industrial emissions,<\/strong> though less efficiently than other methods.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In construction, <strong>adding 2\u20135% biochar<\/strong> to concrete boosts strength, heat resistance, and sequesters 115 kg CO\u2082\/m\u00b3.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>In wastewater treatment<\/strong>, biochar can treat 200\u2013500 litres per kg, with a potential demand of 2.5\u20136.3 million tonnes in India.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What hinders biochar\u2019s application?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Despite its high carbon removal potential, biochar remains underutilised in carbon credit systems due to lack of standardised feedstock markets, inconsistent carbon accounting, and weak investor confidence.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Key barriers to large-scale adoption include limited resources, evolving technologies, policy gaps, and low stakeholder awareness.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Suggestions\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Biochar needs sustained R&amp;D, integration into climate and agricultural policies, and recognition in the Indian carbon market.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This could generate income for farmers, create around 5.2 lakh rural jobs, and enhance soil health, crop yields, and fertilizer efficiency.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Biochar offers a promising, science-backed solution for India\u2019s climate and development goals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/ccidist-ws\/th\/th_international\/issues\/142917\/OPS\/GCCEMSOUG.1+GJDEO0RFE.1.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">TH<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>In News<\/strong><\/h2>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">India\u2019s carbon market is expected to rely on CO\u2082 removal technologies like biochar, which will play a key role in meeting climate goals and offsetting emissions.\n<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Biochar<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">It is black carbon produced from biomass sources [i.e., wood chips, plant residues, manure or other agricultural waste products] for the purpose of transforming the biomass carbon into a more stable form (carbon sequestration).\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">It offers a sustainable alternative to manage waste and capture carbon.\u00a0\n<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/07-08-2025\/biochar\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":50801,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/08\/biochar.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50766"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50797,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50766\/revisions\/50797"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}