US Biochar Coalition (USBC)

🕒 Time is running short for Congress to harvest a Farm Bill in 2024. 🌾 Our policy team at the USBC has spent countless hours over the past year advocating for a Farm Bill that prioritizes climate resilience and includes funding for programs that support research about biochar and other innovative practices and technologies that help American farmers feed the country and grow our economy. 🌱🚜 But with the Election just one week away and a handful of large pieces of legislation queued up for the "lame duck session" that will follow, there is growing concern that the Farm Bill may be punted again. ⏳🏛️ Congress has historically passed a new Farm Bill every five or six years, and the 2018 version was set to expire on October 1st of last year, before being extended by 12 months. Despite hard work by the House and Senate Agriculture Committees on a new bill this past year, the extension expired almost a month ago. The expectation that Congress will quickly resolve a mountain of conflicts and pass a new Farm Bill in the few weeks they will be back in Washington is a heavy lift. 🏋️♂️📜 So where do things stand? The House Ag Committee passed its version of the Farm Bill months ago with bipartisan support. On the Senate side, retiring Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow has released a thorough summary of her Farm Bill, but the full bill remains unseen outside the Ag Committee. For a new Farm Bill to be enacted, it must pass through several legislative stages, and with just a few weeks of legislative activity available before the new Congress convenes, it's a tight squeeze. 📅🔍 If the Farm Bill gets done this year, it will be thanks to farm constituencies pounding their elected officials during this campaign season, and Senator Stabenow herself, who has put six years of effort into the Farm Bill. 🌟👩🌾 We are monitoring Farm Bill developments from a biochar perspective every day. If you want to join the discussion or learn more about our bi-weekly Policy Committee meetings and weekly Policy Newsletter, ask us about joining USBC. 🌍📈 #USBC #FarmBill2024 #Agriculture #ClimateResilience #Biochar #PolicyAdvocacy #LegislativeUpdate #JoinTheDiscussion #PolicyCommittee #PolicyNewsletter

😲 You don't want to miss this one 😲 🏛️ How are governments building trust in carbon dioxide removal (#CDR)? 💻 This is arguably one of the biggest challenges we face in scaling CDR. I am so excited to discuss this key topic with some of the brightest CDR professionals I know on this upcoming Carbonfuture webinar: 🌟 Anu Khan from Carbon Removal Standards Initiative. 🌟 Noah Deich from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) 🌟 Fabien Ramos from European Commission 🌟 Rodica Avornic kavornic from Carbon Gap 📅 October 30, 2024 at 8-9am PT | 11am-12pm ET |  4-5pm CET 👉 Register now: https://lnkd.in/gn3vNGqh #netzero #carbonremoval #climatepolicy

🌱 Happy Bioenergy Day from the US Biochar Coalition! 🌱 We’re thrilled to join the US Circular Economy Coalition (CEC) in celebrating Bioenergy Day—a vital moment to spotlight bioenergy’s role in advancing a sustainable, circular economy. Bioenergy, including biochar, transforms organic waste into renewable energy, closing the loop on waste and creating valuable resources. Here’s why it matters: 🔄 Reduces Waste: By converting organic residues into energy and biochar, we minimize landfill waste and reduce emissions. 🌍 Promotes Sustainability: Renewable and sustainable, bioenergy supports our transition away from fossil fuels. 🏘️ Boosts Local Economies: Biochar and bioenergy create jobs and economic opportunities in local communities. Let’s continue pushing for innovations that drive sustainability and a healthier planet! #BioenergyDay #CircularEconomy #Biochar #RenewableEnergy #Sustainability

🖤 Construction + biochar carbon removal (#BCR) = a match made in heaven? 🔦 Today, I am featuring ecoLocked, a German start-up on a mission to decarbonise the construction industry. As a reminder building materials alone contribute 15% of global emissions. 🏗️ Their approach focuses on integrating biochar into construction materials, enabling the creation of durable carbon sinks in the built environment. They have already sequestered 60t of CO₂  and they’re just getting started!   How does ecoLocked operate?  🪨 ecoLocked uses biochar, a carbon-rich product derived from biomass pyrolysis, which is processed and incorporated into concrete as an admix or additive, partially substituting conventional inputs like cement and aggregates. Note: no significant changes are required at the concrete production site. 🌍 This process permanently sequesters carbon within the concrete structures, creating CO₂ -negative building materials thereby reducing the net carbon footprint, sequestering an estimated 200kg of CO2/m3 of concrete. 💪 In addition to the tremendous environmental benefits, ecoLocked tailors their products to the performance needs of different concrete market segments, such as mechanical performance, weight, or insulation properties. What is ecoLocked’s carbon removal strategy?  📈 ecoLocked recognises biochar’s material properties that increase its value in a variety of contexts and aims to provide a highly-scalable market for biochar as a value-adding carbon store. 💚 They see tremendous market and CO2 impact potential incorporating biochar admixes into building materials, as gigatonnes of cement and concrete are produced each year and the current process is inherently carbon-intensive, with hard-to-abate emissions. 🤝 In a partnership with Carbonfuture tracking tools and Carbon Standards International AG certification, ecoLocked has also been piloting an end to end, trackable, trustworthy removal process. 💰 Following their €4 million seed round in June, they are expanding their R&D team and production facilities, introducing new product lines, and enhancing demand for their products. 🤩 Personally, I see biochar in concrete as one of the most high-potential options we have to scale carbon dioxide removal (#CDR). The construction sector needs solutions to tackle embodied emissions, and biochar seems to be a method of choice given its price, availability, and properties. ❓ What do you think about ecoLocked’s approach and vision? 📣 Shoutout to Stefanie Gerhart, Dr. Mario Schmitt, Micheil Gordon, and the rest of the ecoLocked team - looking forward to seeing what you come up with next. #biochar #carbonremoval #netzero

🌿 Unlock the Future of Biochar with Digitization & Value Chains! Join Jason E. Dodier and the Minnesota Biochar Initiative for an insightful webinar where they will explore how digitization and robust value chains can supercharge biochar's scalability while fostering sustainable economic models. Key Highlights: 📊 The crucial role of project economics in scaling biochar projects 💼 Investor guidance to drive impactful funding 🌱 Ensuring long-term benefits for both producers and the environment ⚡ Integrating advanced technologies to prevent a "tragedy of the commons" Don’t miss this chance to learn how to accelerate biochar innovation while safeguarding our planet! 👉 Save your spot now! https://lnkd.in/eY778mfw #Biochar #Sustainability #DigitalTransformation #GreenEconomy #Innovation #Webinar #CDR

We’re excited to share some incredible news for the biochar industry! BluSky Carbon proudly supports the US Biochar Coalition (USBC) and its successful efforts in advocating for regulatory changes that remove major obstacles to biochar system development. The recent EPA guidance reclassifies clean cellulosic biomass used in biochar production, ensuring it is no longer considered waste under the Clean Air Act. This breakthrough opens the door for biochar systems to operate without the burdensome incineration regulations, helping drive growth in the carbon removal sector. As our CEO, William Hessert, notes, this is a huge win for the industry, one that paves the way for new opportunities in biochar and carbon removal technologies. Thank you to the US Biochar Coalition (USBC) for your leadership and advocacy in this important milestone for sustainable innovation. #CarbonRemoval #Biochar #Sustainability #EPA #CleanTech #BluSkyCarbon

This week in our USBC Weekly Policy Update (Members only): Though Congress is in recess and not generating any real news beyond campaign intrigue, policy that matters to the biochar industry is moving – worldwide. So as the Members of Congress with whom the USBC met at last month’s Fly-In are pounding the campaign trail for themselves or others, federal agencies are eager to round out the legacy of the Biden Administration by getting IRA funds out the door and policies at the intersection of clean energy and environmental responsibility implemented as expeditiously as possible. In the past week plus, we have seen USDA announce $7.7B in funding for climate-smart agricultural practices, DOE release its Carbon Management Strategy, and the Treasury lay a schedule for releasing guidance on a slew of clean energy tax credits. More on all of this, as well as exciting news from Denmark and a handful of news items about biochar from the past week is in our weekly USBC Weekly Policy Update that goes out to members every Friday. Let us know if you'd like to join!

🚨🇩🇰BREAKING: The world’s first government Biochar Carbon Removal (#BCR) strategy is out 🚨🇩🇰 🎯 #Denmark is at it. Again! After introducing the world’s first livestock emission tax (see comments), the Danish government just followed up with a strategy detailing what role exactly BCR will play in helping achieve its ambitious 2045 climate neutrality and 2050 net-negative target. 🔁 The Pyrolysis Strategy and Workplan is a cross-ministerial effort, led by the Ministry of Climate, Energy, and Utilities. It was just published. Here are the key takeaways from it: 🏭 Denmark estimates the carbon removal potential of BCR at 0.3Mt - 1.2Mt by 2035, and up to 38Mt in the long-term. As a reminder, the country’s overall emissions today are 40Mt. ⚡ Renewable energy production from BCR is a key focus, with production estimated to reach 680MW by 2030 and up to 3,400MW in the long-term. The country today produces around 17,000MW. 🧩 A top priority is the development of a BCR methodology for inclusion in the IPCC greenhouse gas inventory by 2027, a key missing building block affecting all countries focusing on BCR to achieve their climate targets. 💰 The government expects the price for carbon removal through BCR to range between DKK 1,400 (€187) and 4,000 (€536 EUR) per ton of CO2. 🤯 The BCR subsidy scheme of DKK 10b (€1.34b) will be phased in by 2027. Per capita, this is the equivalent of the United States investing $83b into BCR. 📋 A key short-term step is to establish the regulatory framework for BCR by mid-2026, including environmental studies and multi-year field trials to ensure safe agricultural application. 👀 You can check out the full strategy (in Danish) here: https://lnkd.in/d_zWsAPp 🖤 Also Mr. BCR in Denmark, Morten Heick, put together a very helpful summary in English here: https://lnkd.in/dB-5Chh7 📣 Huge shout-out to everyone involved, particularly folks at the Climate Ministry, Pyrolyse Danmark and Stiesdal. 🚀 This is incredibly exciting! BCR is slowly and steadily establishing itself as the most shovel-ready CDR technology out there. It is great to see a government recognising BCR’s potential and leading the way on creating both the necessary regulation and funding to scale BCR to climate relevance. ✉️ If you enjoyed this post, make sure to follow me here on LinkedIn (and turn on the 🔔) and do sign up to my monthly newsletter, the Gigaten: https://lnkd.in/d2BKe7gr #carbonremoval #netzero #climatepolicy

We are delighted to report major biochar systems industry regulatory news clearing the path through Clean Air Act incinerator regulations to expedite scale up. Wow, September was a big month for biochar and USBC! At our USBC Fall Fly-in two weeks ago, our top discussion point with US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) related to the erroneous classification of pyrolysis & gasification technologies used in biochar systems as incineration, putting biochar systems into a lengthy & expensive air permitting process, unnecessarily delaying project development. This issue and its chilling impact on industry growth was the very first regulatory barrier raised to us by our members. Under the tremendous leadership of regulatory & policy strategy expert, USBC Co-Founder, Board Chair & Policy Co-Chair Amy McCrae Kessler and government relations dynamo, USBC Executive Director and SMART Policy Group partner, Maureen Walsh, the powerhouse team that built the U.S. biogas industry, USBC began executing on a multi-tiered strategy to address it. Phase I: March Fly-In, we began the process of breaking down silos & building connections across EPA offices, bringing air, waste, regions, and our members together to discuss real world implications. Our policy team got to work behind the scenes, crafting our ask & laying the foundation for change. Phase II: September DC Fly-In. Expanded meetings with EPA air and waste program leadership, new departments, and our members to advance our request for exclusion of biochar systems from OSWI regs. In the interim, we requested that EPA issue guidance to provide a clear path through the air permitting process. This week we received the fantastic news that EPA issued guidance on the topic, unequivocally stating that clean cellulosic biomass used in pyrolysis & gasification systems to produce biochar would NOT be classified as solid waste under the CAA, moving biochar systems squarely outside of the OSWI rules! We have more work to do to remove biochar systems from association with the term incineration once and for all. For now, we’ve cleared the path for projects to move forward & neutralized a key barrier to growth brought to our attention by our members. For more on this exciting development and to be a part of our other advocacy efforts on behalf of the biochar systems industry led by the powerful USBC Policy & Government Relations Team that also includes talents Markus Videnieks & Sean Trambley, supported by Hailey Faust & Deirdre Seling and to receive our weekly newsletter that covering all things biochar news and information from a policy perspective, please ask us how your company can join USBC! #biochar #biocharsystems #cdr #biocharcdr #bioeconomy #industrycollaboration #policy #usbc

It's fantastic to see how Jason E. Dodier and Grain Ecosystem, in collaboration with the US Biochar Initiative, are spearheading such pivotal initiatives as the Biochar Carbon Revolution event during NY Climate Week. 🚀 Your passion and commitment to driving urgent action in the climate arena are truly commendable. We at the US Biochar Coalition are thrilled to be part of this journey and are eagerly looking forward to what’s next. The success of these events is a testament to the power of collaboration and innovation in tackling environmental challenges. 🌱 Thank you for pushing the boundaries and setting the stage for even greater achievements. Here’s to more groundbreaking work and making a substantial impact together! 🥂 Cheers to continued success and partnership! #NYClimateWeek #Biochar #CDR #RegenerativeAg