Workshop with a focus on Biochar

Background:

The rising concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere, currently about 420 ppm, is already causing extensive damage globally. In its 6th Assessment report on the mitigation of climate change, the IPCC noted that Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) methods are required to limit global warming to 1.5 °C, identifying their potential to achieve net negative greenhouse gas emissions, especially in sectors such as industry, agriculture and long-distance transportation. 

The current self-regulated market relies on an unsatisfactory patchwork of third-party verification of the removals achieved at individual sites. The sector has been negatively influenced by a lack of regulation and high-quality standards. These conditions have allowed low-quality carbon credits to enter the market, lowering credibility and prices to levels at which high-quality permanent removals cannot compete.

C-SINK aims to build a standardised and transparent European CDR market with trustworthy accounting methodologies based on robust monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) pre-standards and policy strategies. Comprehensive scientific assessments will be made of the various CDR approaches, in terms of (a) their potential uptake of CO₂ (or particulate carbon in the case of biochar), and (b) their safety and other environmental, social and economic impacts over time.

Event details:

The project’s first workshop on Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) approaches will focus on biochar, exploring its capacity to sequester CO₂ from the atmosphere and store it in a stable form for extended periods, effectively reducing atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. More specifically, the event will feature the following thematic sessions through a series of presentations, panel discussions, and poster exhibitions:

• Biochar use cases
• Permanence
• Standardisation and regulation
• Monitoring, reporting, and verification systems