A recent review by Negin Mirzaei, Ahmad Hajinezhad, Hossein Yousefi, Seyed Farhan Moosavian, and Reza Fattahi in Energy Science & Engineering investigates how nature-based carbon management (NBCM) methods can help stabilize the climate and restore ecosystems. The study focuses on comparing four main NBCM approaches—forest and grassland restoration, wetlands and blue-carbon ecosystems, urban green spaces, and regenerative agriculture—to test the hypothesis that systems incorporating biochar offer the most sustainable and practical long-term carbon sequestration pathway. The world is clearly off track from meeting the 1.5°C climate target, highlighting the critical need for strategies that both cut emissions and enhance sequestration capacity.

Technological carbon solutions, such as Direct Air Capture, are high-cost and infrastructure-intensive, whereas nature-based solutions use existing ecosystems to remove carbon biologically at a comparatively lower cost. However, the study confirms that NBCM success hinges on two factors: the method’s effectiveness and its economic feasibility. Soils are particularly important, as they contain roughly twice the carbon found in the atmosphere. Enhancing this massive carbon pool is a central strategy for land-based CO_2​ removal. Historically, converting native vegetation to cultivated land has released significant amounts of soil carbon back into the air. Regenerative agriculture aims to reverse this trend.

The comparative analysis reveals that biochar-based regenerative agriculture stands out among its peers, particularly due to its carbon storage longevity and practical applicability. While forests and saline wetlands can store carbon for decades or even centuries, that storage is jeopardized by degradation or land-use change. Urban green spaces offer short-term storage dependent on seasonal vegetation. In sharp contrast, biochar, a carbon-rich material produced from heating biomassBiomass is a complex biological organic or non-organic solid product derived from living or recently living organism and available naturally. Various types of wastes such as animal manure, waste paper, sludge and many industrial wastes are also treated as biomass because like natural biomass these More in low-oxygen conditions, has a highly stable structure that allows it to sequester carbon in soil for hundreds of years, making it the most durable storage method reviewed. This physicochemical stability makes its residence timeResidence time refers to the duration that the biomass is heated during the pyrolysis process. The residence time can influence the properties of the biochar produced.   More one to two orders of magnitude greater than that of the original biomass.

The effectiveness of biochar has been quantified in recent meta-analyses. Biochar application was found to increase soil organic carbon (SOC) by approximately 33% and enhance crop yield by 15% on average, while also reducing global warming potential by 27%. This ability to improve soil health, retain water and nutrients, and reduce the need for chemical fertilizers provides valuable environmental and agricultural co-benefits. Its application is widely suitable for most regions, giving it a flexibility that methods like blue-carbon ecosystems (limited to coastal wetland regions) or urban green spaces (restricted to urban planning) lack.

Despite its high potential, large-scale adoption of biochar is currently constrained by three major challenges, which vary across countries. In developed countries, biochar is successfully used at an industrial scale, often integrated with waste management; for example, projects in the US have shown an increase in soil carbon storage of up to 2.5 tons per hectare and a reduction in chemical fertilizer dependence by 30%. In Canada, biochar use has cut methane emissions from livestock waste management by up to 25%. These successes are driven by advanced technology and supportive policies.

However, developing and low-income countries face more significant hurdles, including: The industrial-scale production of biochar via pyrolysisPyrolysis is a thermochemical process that converts waste biomass into bio-char, bio-oil, and pyro-gas. It offers significant advantages in waste valorization, turning low-value materials into economically valuable resources. Its versatility allows for tailored products based on operational conditions, presenting itself as a cost-effective and efficient More demands expensive infrastructure, which poses a major obstacle for low-income nations; Many farmers and policymakers are simply not aware of the full benefits and applications of biochar technology; The supply chain needed for collecting, transporting, and processing biomass residues is often inadequate in rural or remote areas.

To unlock biochar’s potential globally, future efforts must focus on developing cost-reduction and scalability frameworks, providing comprehensive educational initiatives for farmers, and establishing policy incentives, particularly in developing economies. The study ultimately confirms the central hypothesis that biochar, when integrated into regenerative agriculture, is the most sustainable and economically viable NBCM pathway, capable of bridging environmental necessity with industrial practicality.

Source: Mirzaei, N., Hajinezhad, A., Yousefi, H., Moosavian, S. F., & Fattahi, R. (2025). Biochar at the Core of Nature-Based Carbon Management: A Comparative Review Bridging Environmental Sustainability and Economic Feasibility. Energy Science & Engineering, 1–14.