Ahead of the North American BiocharBiochar is a carbon-rich material created from biomass decomposition in low-oxygen conditions. It has important applications in environmental remediation, soil improvement, agriculture, carbon sequestration, energy storage, and sustainable materials, promoting efficiency and reducing waste in various contexts while addressing climate change challenges. More Conference, the industry’s biggest risk isn’t permanence. It’s whether the people who use biochar come back for more.

In a hay field in Bridgewater, Connecticut, three soil sensors sit a few yards apart. One is in soil with no biochar. One is in soil with raw biochar. One is in soil with biochar tailored to that field. By early 2027, they will tell us something no carbon registry can: whether the material did its job.

On paper, biochar has never looked stronger. In the first quarter of 2026, buyers signed contracts for 2.3 million metric tons of long-lasting carbon removal. That was about five and a half times the same quarter a year earlier, and nearly all of it was biochar. By midyear, biochar sales reached 2.99 million tons, up from 1.59 million tons a year earlier. But the base is narrow. In April, Microsoft paused new carbon removal purchases. BloombergNEF calculates that its purchases through mid-July fell about 80% from the same period in 2025. Global sales of removal credits were running 66% below 2025 levels.

The lesson is not that carbon markets failed us. It’s that carbon credits pay to make biochar. They don’t guarantee anyone keeps buying it. A lasting industry needs customers who want biochar for what it does in the ground. Those customers are farmers, land trusts, golf course superintendents, city engineers and builders. They don’t read carbon accounting rules. They read yields, water bills and soil tests. Right now, too few of them are buying.

Cost is one barrier. Federal conservation officials in the Mississippi Delta estimate biochar will cost $1,700 per acre to apply in 2026, and only $186 of that is the biochar itself. Awareness is another. In one University of Idaho study, 92% of consumers had never heard of biochar. The third barrier is one we create ourselves: overpromising. Researchers studying small farms in Southeast Asia found that interest stays high, but few farmers keep using biochar season after season. They urged honesty about realistic benefits and timelines, with a focus on uses that clearly pay off.

Biochar is not one product. What it’s made from and how hot it’s cooked change how it behaves. A biochar that helps one soil may do little for another. A grower who applies the wrong kind and sees no change will not try again. Then they tell their neighbors.

The solution is inspired by medicine. Diagnose the soil first. Match the biochar to the problem. Verify the result in the field, over time, against untreated soil.That is the approach behind our pilots in Bridgewater and in Thailand. In Thailand, we’re working with Warm Heart Foundation and Biochar Life, two groups already rooted in the farming communities they serve. Local partners matter. Farmers rarely adopt something because of a sales pitch. They adopt it when a neighbor’s field looks better.

Results from both pilots will be available in early 2027. We’ll share them, including anything that disappoints us. Honest data does more than build goodwill. It shows buyers where biochar works and where it doesn’t. That lowers the risk for everyone who buys it. The alternative is already visible. In one recent survey, 69% of carbon credit buyers said they had cut back or stopped talking publicly about their purchases because of media scrutiny. Silence is what greenwashing fatigue looks like. Open data is the cure.

The wider carbon removal market has a delivery problem. According to CDR.fyi data, about 49.46 million tons of long-lasting removal have been sold, but only about 1.67 million tons have been delivered. That’s roughly 3.4%. Biochar has the strongest delivery record among newer methods. That edge is our best asset. Buyers have noticed the gaps elsewhere. One market report found that most planned biochar supply would not meet its quality standards. Rating firms now grade biochar project by project. The bar is rising, and it should. Governments are starting to make room for biochar, but unevenly. The European Union now certifies it, yet left it out of a July plan for its main carbon market. Regulators reward what they can measure. Field data is how we earn a seat at every table still closed to us.

Four commitments for New Orleans

–Sell outcomes, not tons. Lead with what the soil gains. Treat carbon as the bonus.

–Fund the proof. Most long-term carbon contracts pay only after verified tons are delivered. That leaves the costly early work unfunded. This includes soil tests, field trials and untreated comparison plots. The fix is not new. Frontier, a carbon removal buyers group, already pays some early-stage suppliers before any tons arrive. A small share of every contract could do the same for field testing.

–Match contracts to the crop cycle. Carbon credits are counted when biochar goes into the ground. Its value to a farmer shows up over several seasons. Contracts are getting longer, but they still pay for carbon, not for results in the field. Tools to share that risk are emerging. Insurers now cover buyers if biochar credits fail to arrive. A new climate standard used by major companies now lets them count carbon removal inside their own supply chains. That gives food and clothing brands a reason to back the farmers they buy from over many harvests. Better Cotton is already turning cotton stalks into biochar for farmers’ fields.
–Publish the uncertain. Every project should show its work, against a comparison plot, in public. That includes the trials that fall short.

Biochar’s first chapter was written by carbon buyers. The next one will be written by the people who use it. If they keep coming back, this industry won’t need another record quarter to prove itself.

Sources

• Senken: Biochar carbon removal (CDR.fyi Q1 2026 data, EU certification)
• Carbon Pulse: Biochar supply and sales, H1 2026
• Cleantech Group: Microsoft’s April pause
• The Edge / Bloomberg: Microsoft purchases down 80%
• Let’s Data Science: BloombergNEF calculation
• Delta Farm Press: Per-acre cost estimate
• University of Idaho: Consumer awareness study
• ECHO / Frontiers: Southeast Asia adoption gap
• Sustainability Magazine: Climate Impact Partners buyer survey
• New Market Pitch: Sold vs. delivered removal (CDR.fyi data)
• Sylvera: Project-level biochar ratings
• Argus: EU carbon market proposal leaves out biochar
• Frontier: Purchase tracks
• FinTech Global: Kita insures biochar credit delivery
• Puro.earth: SBTi standard and supply-chain biochar