Letter from the Executive Director

Biochar continues to move from niche to mainstream relevance, with an encouraging wave of developments over the past month. The XPrize winners were announced, and NetZero, a leading biochar company was first runner-up, showing that leaders in the CDR can see the potential of biochar. Holcim, one of the world’s largest concrete producers, announced it is incorporating biochar into its products as part of its global push toward carbon neutrality — a signal that biochar has entered the conversation in one of the world's most carbon-intensive industries. American Farmland Trust, one of our key partners, implemented biochar demonstration projects across the country this spring with commercial farms. The Water Research Foundation published a timely report push the envelope on the potential for gasification and pyrolysis to destroy PFAS in biosolids, highlighting the potential to integrate biochar production into wastewater management systems across the country. OurCarbon has continued to push the envelope on its innovative approach of converting wastewater treatment biosolids into concrete additives and pigment for clothing lines. And in the horticulture world, FloraCulture International FloraCulture International published new content on sustainable alternatives to peat including biochar, showing the opportunity for biochar in substrate.

For our part, at USBI, we've been equaly busy laying the foundation for the next phase of biochar adoption and market development. We are getting close to completion of an American National Standard for biochar analysis, which wi l provide consistent and standardized methods to evaluate and communicate biochar quality. In partnership with the Center for Watershed Protection , we’ve launched development of a biochar stormwater guidance manual, which wi l help engineers and planners better integrate biochar into green infrastructure projects. Our Biochar 2025 conference agenda is taking shape — after reviewing over 100 speaker submissions, we’re confident this wi l be our most impactful conference yet. And on the ground, we’ve been working with Washington State University to implement large-scale field trials with commercial farmers, testing biochar and biocharenhanced fertilizers under real-world conditions. 

Taken together, it is clear that the biochar sector continues to grow and gain traction in climate-smart agriculture, green infrastructure, and industrial decarbonization. We at USBI will continue to push this success, and we hope to have your support along the way.

Myles Gray
Executive Director