Climate-tech company A Healthier Earth has been announced as the official biochar partner at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28). The firm will be the only UK business exhibiting at the Expo City Farm area of EXPO City in Dubai between 30 November and 12 December.
Alongside the policy discussions on how to reach the Paris Agreement of 2015 and limit global warming to 1.5⁰C, a variety of different sustainable agriculture solutions will be on display at the Urban Farm. A Healthier Earth will have a central plot to demonstrate biochar’s role in both carbon capture and soil improvement, including its ability to tackle food and water security in desert environments.
Biochar is a form of captured and sequestered carbon, which is recognised by the IPCC as an important carbon removal technology. While it has typically been used in agriculture and forestry, its applications are rapidly expanding into areas including construction and renewable energy.
A Healthier Earth says it uses a circular approach to creating biochar, starting with end-of-life waste and turning it into a valuable product that locks carbon away indefinitely. The aim is to rapidly scale the benefits of biochar with tailored applications across the world.
Alastair Collier, Chief R&D Officer at A Healthier Earth said: “The urgency of the climate crisis demands solutions that deliver impact and value. Biochar production is still in its infancy but if we incentivised production at scale, by 2050 it could lock 2.6 billion of the 40 billion tonnes of CO2 out of the atmosphere each year while delivering countless wider environmental benefits.
“It is critical to recognise the specific physical, social and cultural characteristics of each area and develop biochar solutions that use local waste streams to meet local needs. The opportunity to show our biochar’s potential for improving agricultural yields in sandy soils is very exciting and we are honoured to be included as part of the COP28 agenda”.
Currently the United Arab Emirates (UAE) imports 85% of the food it consumes and biochar has the potential to help it address three challenges in tandem: improving food security, reducing carbon emissions and securing long term water security. The biochar that A Healthier Earth is producing is made from end-of-life date palm leaves that, when applied back into the sandy soil, help to improve soil quality and increase agricultural productivity in regions that would otherwise be unsuitable for food production.
A Healthier Earth is a wholly owned subsidiary of Pure DC and backed by investment from Oaktree Capital Management. All A Healthier Earth’s biochar work is underpinned by rigorous research, backed by its Scientific Advisory Council, made up of experts specialising in leading and pioneering climate science.
Professor Ondrej Mašek (BSc PhD) from the University of Edinburgh is a member of A Healthier Earth’s Scientific Advisory Council and hosts the UK Biochar Research Centre. He said: “Biochar is a proven method of long-term carbon removal and A Healthier Earth is working on ready-to-use solutions which will help limit the global temperature increase to 1.5°C as set out by the UN’s Paris Agreement.
“Crucially, the substance can then be used to help us achieve other environmental goals. For example, beyond agricultural applications biochar could also reduce the carbon footprint of concrete, one of the most widely used materials in existence. Research shows that biochar could potentially replace 10% of the cement in concrete, reducing the carbon footprint of its production by 32%.”
To find out more about biochar and the projects currently scaling towards production, go to: ahealthierearth.com
