A carbon capture technique that aims to ensure that the carbon stored in plants is permanently removed from the atmosphere through a process known as pyrolysis that turns biomass into charcoal by burning it at very high temperatures.
Advocates of the approach claim that the process locks carbon that would have been released into the atmosphere in the charcoal. The charcoal can then be mixed with soil and buried underground, effectively removing CO2 from the atmosphere while boosting the fertility of the soil.
The technique has been praised by a number of influential scientists, including the pioneer of Gaia theory James Lovelock. However, other scientists and environmental campaigners have expressed concern that producing biochar on sufficient scale to curb concentrations of atmospheric CO2 would lead to widespread deforestation as natural forests are replaced with plantations.
