In perhaps one of the largest biochar carbon removal credits deals in the world, Google has purchased 100,000 carbon credits from Varaha, an Indian company developing carbon removal projects.
Biomass-produced biochar is also called horticultural charcoal or black gold for soil.
Google will receive the offtake agreement credits by 2030 from Varaha’s industrial biochar project in Gujarat, the companies said.
As per information available on the company website, Varaha turns large amounts of agricultural waste into biochar—a form of charcoal that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and returns it to the soil.
As a part of the partnership with Google, Varaha will buy waste from hundreds of smallholder farms in India and build reactors to convert it into biochar, which can sequester CO2 for hundreds of years. It will also be supplied to farmers as an alternative to fertilizers.
“Biochar is a promising approach to carbon removal because it has the ability to scale worldwide, using existing technology, with positive side effects for soil health,” said Randy Spock, Lead, Carbon Removal, Google.
Madhur Jain, Chief Executive Officer, Varaha, said that there was scope for rapid growth, with waste from India’s farms capable of generating enough biochar to store more than 100 million tons of CO2 every year.
