Further research and deployment support are needed for biochar to scale up to deliver significant CO₂e mitigation on the order of a billion tons by 2020. The ability to scale up biochar within this timeframe is not well understood; although early research has established biochar’s potential to scale up to remove several billion tons of CO₂e per year by 2054.

A market-based scale up of biochar would leverage the cobenefits of biochar as a soil enhancer, including improved water and fertilization retention in soils. This can potentially boost crop productivity, reduce operations costs, and reduce pollution by limiting fertilizer application and runoff. Biochar is in a very early stage, and market-based scale up will require commercialization support in four areas:

• Market data and valuation
  
• Business models
  
• Financing
  
• Scale up capital.

An important near-term goal is to attain recognition for biochar as a potential mitigation technology in UNFCCC and national policy documents that will support both public and private investment.

Market-based Approaches
Biochar is one of the few carbon management approaches that has a viable business strategy even without an active carbon market. Biochar’s soil enhancing properties that include increased soil fertility and improved water and fertilizer retention could support a commercialization strategy around agricultural use to increase land productivity.

A successful biochar market will require significant initial policy support. Government funding for additional research and development is still needed regarding application of biochar to different soil types, as well as deployment support. Official recognition at the international and national policy level of biochar as a viable mitigation technology is important for procuring research support as well as signaling to investors that there is regulatory acceptance for biochar and the potential to take advantage of future carbon markets. As with all carbon mitigation technologies, biochar adoption would be accelerated significantly by a carbon tax.

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