A ground-breaking scientific trial is paying farmers to take tonnes of burnt wood and bury it in the ground as part of cutting-edge carbon capture research.
The £31.5m environmental study, led by Nottingham University's Professor Snape, aims to place 200 tonnes of the charcoal-like substance under woodland and farmland in an attempt to improve British soil health and turn waste carbon into a useful nutrient. Biochar is the carbon-rich solid by-product of wood and other materials when burnt at 600 degrees in an oxygen-free environment.
Some small-scale gardening and farming already use biochar and ash as a form of soil fertiliser, but Professor Snape aims to discover if techniques like this can be used to help the UK meet its net-zero carbon goals. Researchers have already ploughed 15 tonnes of the waste carbon into British soil, but will also explore how scattering biochar and using it to create new woodland areas can help reduce and negate the country's carbon footprint.
