The use of biochar on a widespread and large-scale has thus been shown to be greatly beneficial in the fight against climate change, as well as for sustainable soil management. But before this can be seriously implemented and developed into policy, scientific evidence must be expanded to fully cover implication of its use on soil properties, processes and functions (Verheijen et al 2012). Until this has been comprehensively quantified, regulations have a higher likelihood of unsuccessfully mitigating potential risks associated with the use of biochar, and creating information asymmetries. The compilation of scientific data will allow governments and stakeholders to scan the domestic and international environments and determine how policy, including
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Research and development of biochar needs to cover all soil functions and threats to soil. This includes considering soil erosion, decline in soil organic matter, coil compaction, soil sealing, decline in soil biodiversity, soil salinization, soil contamination, and landslides (Verheijen et al 2012). It is important to represent the environmental and socioeconomic conditions of all sites under consideration for policy development (Verheijen et al 2012). Environmental impact and risk assessment studies are a critical factor in using foresight to explore policy challenges and opportunities. Since biochar sequesters carbon in the soil, and has a relatively long mean residence time in soils (hundreds of years), it is set apart from other conventional soil amendment techniques which are transient in the soil (Verheijen et al 2012). Functional lifetime plays a large role in foresight efforts of regulatory bodies and governments on the use of biochar in global-scale projects. This …show more content…
In 2013, global biochar market revenue was at $229.3M, with an expected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.8% in the next 7 years. By 2020, market revenue would be at 572.3M (Wood 2016). In the same amount of time, global commercial biochar production volume is expected to rise from 100kT to 300kT at a CAGR of 20.1%. Possible regulations need to consider that production volumes will surge within the next 5-10 years (Wood 2016). These explosive projected trends greatly increase the scope of any possible policies that are created to regulate the biochar
Research and development of biochar needs to cover all soil functions and threats to soil. This includes considering soil erosion, decline in soil organic matter, coil compaction, soil sealing, decline in soil biodiversity, soil salinization, soil contamination, and landslides (Verheijen et al 2012). It is important to represent the environmental and socioeconomic conditions of all sites under consideration for policy development (Verheijen et al 2012). Environmental impact and risk assessment studies are a critical factor in using foresight to explore policy challenges and opportunities. Since biochar sequesters carbon in the soil, and has a relatively long mean residence time in soils (hundreds of years), it is set apart from other conventional soil amendment techniques which are transient in the soil (Verheijen et al 2012). Functional lifetime plays a large role in foresight efforts of regulatory bodies and governments on the use of biochar in global-scale projects. This …show more content…
In 2013, global biochar market revenue was at $229.3M, with an expected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.8% in the next 7 years. By 2020, market revenue would be at 572.3M (Wood 2016). In the same amount of time, global commercial biochar production volume is expected to rise from 100kT to 300kT at a CAGR of 20.1%. Possible regulations need to consider that production volumes will surge within the next 5-10 years (Wood 2016). These explosive projected trends greatly increase the scope of any possible policies that are created to regulate the biochar