Source: Reasons to be Cheerful
It sometimes seems we are constantly on the hunt for the best of all worlds when it comes to the climate, the environment and the economy.
So trust the Scandinavians to have hit the win-win-win jackpot. Though small in scale, new projects in Finland and Sweden are proving that energy production, environmental protection and, well, profit, don’t always need to be in conflict—in fact, they can go hand in hand.
The innovation revolves around a substance with a lot of buzz around it as of late, but one whose potentials are often deeply undervalued: biochar. So before we dive into Stockholm, first, a quick beginner’s lesson:
There’s something bizarrely perfect about the potential of the biochar process. A technique that transforms plant waste into a form of charcoal, biochar production both creates a long-lasting carbon sink and acts as an environmentally sustainable soil additive that greatly increases the productivity of agricultural land. Hence the buzz around biochar thus far. These qualities alone have been enough to create a global boom in its production, with the global market size reaching $1.3 billion in 2018.
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