An Overview of Biochar Standards and Certification Programs and Their Impact on Biochar Industry Development.

Biochar is a spectrum of materials with many different measurable characteristics. Badly made or poorly characterized biochars may harm soils if applied inappropriately. Several national and international entities have pursued the development of biochar standards and certification for product quality and safety assurance, and to help guide users as well as regulatory agencies responsible for governing the biochar industry. These different approaches to certification have highlighted some issues that need to be resolved. Foremost is the issue of what materials should qualify as biochar, based on carbon content and stability. Another issue is whether to base certification on the biochar material properties only, or if process considerations that impact environmental emissions and life cycle analysis should also be included. Testing methods for some biochar properties, sampling procedures, and costs are also being assessed for effectiveness and feasibility for industry to carry out. Thus far, certification has focused on the potential risks of adding biochar to soil, attempting to assure that biochar will cause no harm. This focus is appropriate, however, biochar testing and certification programs also need to make progress in identifying the key biochar characteristics and tests that will indicate how biochar performs in different soils. One of the main barriers to the biochar industry is a lack of end-user awareness of the benefits of biochar. Biochar certification programs could help address this barrier by including more useful indicators of beneficial biochar characteristics. This will require additional research by soil scientists and others to help identify relevant biochar attributes and tests.