How biochar carbon credits work

Production. Biochar is produced and recorded in a digital MRV app, with photos, volume, and georeferenced production location. Lab samples go to an endorsed laboratory.

Application. Biochar is mixed into an accepted matrix and applied to soil. Application date, GPS, and matrix code are logged.

Aggregation. The Manager groups individual records into a registered C-Sink Unit. The required data fields go to the Global C-Sink Registry.

Verification. An independent certifier reviews the records, audits the production site each year, and validates the unit. Only after this validation are credits issued.

Sale or retirement. Buyers acquire credits directly from a project or through marketplaces. When a buyer retires a credit, it is a permanent record on the registry. The credit cannot be resold.

The market separates broadly into two tiers by production scale.

Industrial-scale biochar credits, from continuous and larger systems, sit at the higher end of the durable carbon removal market.

Artisan-grade biochar credits, from earthen kilns, mid-size mobile reactors, and stove networks, sit at the more accessible end. Smaller volumes, smallholder-focused, often with stronger co-benefit narratives.

For comparison: forestry offsets price much lower (and face permanence concerns). Direct air capture prices much higher (but most projects are early stage). Biochar is the practical middle of the durable removal market.

Three buyer archetypes.

Climate-committed roasters and brands with stated supply-chain commitments. They typically buy credits in-set, from their own supply chain, rather than as off-the-shelf offsets. This is the natural first buyer for a coffee project.

Tech-sector durable-removal buyers. Larger ticket sizes, faster transactions, but a preference for industrial-scale sellers and diversified portfolios.

Compliance markets. Limited so far. Biochar is not yet fully eligible in most compliance regimes, but several frameworks are evolving. This market could grow significantly over the next several years if regulations line up.

A retired credit allows specific, narrow claims. A buyer can claim that they retired a measured number of tons of biochar carbon removal credits from a specific project and vintage, registered under the relevant standard.

They cannot claim the underlying removal beyond what they retired. They cannot claim carbon neutral without disclosing the methodology and any residual emissions. They cannot claim the project’s co-benefits as their own. Those belong to the producer.

The Methodology section has a Claims Framework page with worked examples for each role in the supply chain. Worth bookmarking before signing a credit purchase agreement.

In-setting is when the carbon removal happens inside your own supply chain rather than as a generic offset bought on a market. If a coffee farm in your supply chain produces biochar from their own pruning residue and applies it to their own soil, that biochar going into that soil counts toward your upstream emissions because their farm is your farm.

In-setting is harder to set up than off-the-shelf offsets, but it is more credible and increasingly more defensible to regulators. For a coffee roaster, biochar in-setting is one of the few credible ways to reduce the dominant slice of upstream emissions. It is the angle Climate B2C leads with for buyer conversations.