Josiah Hunt from Pacific Biochar discusses the potential of biochar in transforming food systems and mitigating climate change. They explore the role of benefit corporations in prioritizing societal and environmental benefits. The podcast also delves into the accountability of corporations for their impact on the public and ecosystems. Furthermore, they discuss the benefits of using biochar in agriculture and the challenges of incorporating it into existing biomass energy plants. The conversation concludes with exploring tools to create a regenerative movement through funding pilot projects and utilizing carbon credits for biodiversity-positive interventions.
Pacific Biochar is a benefit corporation prioritizing climate change mitigation over profits, setting a precedent for other corporations to prioritize societal and environmental benefits.
By retrofitting biomass power plants to produce biochar, Pacific Biochar not only optimizes energy production but also provides a waste management solution while sequestering carbon.
Biochar offers a wide range of ecological benefits beyond carbon sequestration, including enhanced soil fertility, water retention, flood risk mitigation, and adversity buffering, making it attractive for companies aiming to achieve nature-positive and net-zero goals.
Deep dives
Biochar as a Benefit Corporation
Pacific Biochar is a benefit corporation, prioritizing the benefit to humanity over profit. They aim to address the problem of corporations prioritizing profit over moral guidelines. By creating a benefit corporation, they ensure that anthropogenic climate change mitigation is on par or greater in importance than profits to shareholders.
Utilizing Biomass Power to Produce Biochar
Pacific Biochar works with biomass power plants to produce biochar as a co-product. By retrofitting the existing equipment, they optimize the process to produce biochar instead of solely focusing on energy production. This approach allows them to utilize excess biomass and provide a waste management solution while sequestering carbon. By putting a price tag on biochar and registering carbon credits, they have started to create a financial incentive to shift the focus towards maximizing the long-term ecosystem benefits of biochar.
Exploring the Ecological Benefits of Biochar
The ecological benefits of biochar extend beyond carbon sequestration. Biochar can enhance soil fertility, water retention, flood risk mitigation, and act as an adversity buffer. These benefits can have a significant impact on degraded soils and challenging growing conditions. By measuring and quantifying these benefits, carbon credits can be expanded to include a broader ecological benefits framework, attracting companies and insurance companies interested in achieving nature-positive and net zero goals.
Developing a System for Evaluating Ecological Benefits
There is a need to develop a system for evaluating and rewarding the long-term ecological benefits of biochar. This system should include metrics such as water retention, soil health, biodiversity, plant vigor, and resilience to adversity. It should also incentivize the utilization of biochar in ways that maximize these ecological benefits. By partnering with organizations promoting nature-positive goals and combining multiple benefits into one carbon credit, a market can be created that supports the long-term ecological and societal value of biochar.
Maximizing Ecological Benefits Through Biochar Deployment
The podcast episode discusses the potential of using biochar to maximize ecological benefits in agriculture and soil health. The speaker highlights the importance of using tools like the Soil Web Survey and Soil Data Explorer to identify areas with the greatest potential for biochar response. By analyzing soil properties and using predictive modeling, farmers can determine the expected outcomes of biochar application, such as improved crop yield. The speaker emphasizes the need for intentional guidance in the application of biochar to achieve multi-generational outcomes and create a system that financially incentivizes sustainable soil management.
Financializing Biochar: Bridging the Gap for Sustainable Soil Practices
The podcast episode delves into the challenges of financializing biochar and making long-term ecological value understandable and investible. The speaker discusses the need for innovative financial instruments, such as a climate change adaptation credit or multi-commodity impact bond, to fund biochar applications that provide water retention, soil health, crop yield increases, and carbon sequestration. The conversation explores the importance of creating a system that allows for loans, expresses the future value generation of biochar, and establishes robust monitoring to ensure the credibility and ongoing health of ecosystems. The speaker calls for the collaboration of stakeholders and organizations like the Nature Conservancy to pioneer and develop a value system that accounts for regenerative and restorative activities.
On this episode of Planetary Regeneration Podcast, host Gregory Landua chats with Josiah Hunt about the groundbreaking work of Pacific Biochar, a Benefit Corporation committed to balancing profits with societal and environmental benefits. They explore the potential of biochar in transforming food systems and its role in mitigating climate change. Tune in to learn more about how biochar production could revolutionize soil health and carbon sequestration, paving the way for a more sustainable future.
Josiah Hunt has, since 2008, helped to innovate methods for biochar production, processing, and application in carbon sequestering pathways. He is founder and CEO of Pacific Biochar Benefit Corporation.
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Website: pacificbiochar.com
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josiah-hunt-07918329
Twitter: https://twitter.com/josiahhunt11
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pacificbiochar
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