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“Over the years we’ve invested significantly in our field data team - focusing on producing trusted ratings. While this ensures the accuracy of our Ratings, it doesn’t allow the scale across the thousands of projects that buyers are considering.”
For more information on carbon credit procurement trends, read our "Key Takeaways for 2025" article. We share five, data-backed tips to improve your procurement strategy.
One more thing: Connect to Supply customers also get access to the rest of Sylvera's tools. That means you can easily see project ratings and evaluate an individual project's strengths, procure quality carbon credits, and even monitor project activity (particularly if you’ve invested at the pre-issuance stage.)
Book a free demo of Sylvera to see our platform's procurement and reporting features in action.
Disclaimer: An assessment overview outlines Sylvera's approach to assessing Biochar projects of potential strengths and risks for buyers to consider. Currently, data disclosures in the space do not meet our thresholds required to produce our in-depth, rigorous standards for biochar Ratings.
With the right data disclosures and collaboration with developers, we can provide the deep project-level insights needed to inform buyers' investment due diligence and help bring these technologies to scale faster. If you're a project developer interested in having Sylvera rate your project to help prove impact and optimize investment, reach out to our team
Further details on the Sylvera assessment overview creation process can be found in our Frameworks & Processes White Paper.
There is high demand in the market for engineered Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) projects, such as biochar. There are very few CDR projects that have delivered ex-post removals credits; the majority of buyer activity has been in forward purchases of CDR credits. As a category, biochar is one of the only options for buyers to procure engineered CDR credits today.
Sylvera is actively working with stakeholders in this space to share data on projects in hopes of catalyzing scale for the biochar market.
What is biochar?
Biochar production creates biochar through pyrolysis, a process that involves heating and/or burning biomass at high temperatures (up to 800C) in an oxygen-absent, controlled environment. This leads to engineered carbon removal credits that can be sold on the voluntary carbon market (VCM).
The input to the pyrolysis process is primarily plant and animal biomass, which can come from many sources. For example, a forest management company with wood chips or a farmer with grass and crop residue. The biomass is normally sourced locally from the surrounding areas.
Local sourcing helps minimize the use of fossil fuels in transportation and adds to economic feasibility. Plus, it eliminates the biomass input, which doesn't have many alternative uses.
Also of note, the quality of the biomass (including moisture content) has a direct impact on the quality of the biochar created. Woody biomass from forestry waste is an example of a high-quality input.
Like other projects in the engineered carbon removal sectors, biochar has many co-benefits. For instance, pyrolysis naturally creates bio-oil and excess thermal energy, known as waste heat. Both bio-oil and waste heat can be sold for additional revenue.
Once biochar is created, it can be used as a soil amendment. This improves soil fertility and impacts climate change by storing carbon in a stable form underground.
Beyond soil improvement, biochar can be used in concrete production. This not only improves the concrete's strength and durability, but locks carbon away for a long time, preventing it fro reaching the atmosphere and furthering the climate change initiatives.
How Sylvera assesses biochar carbon credits
The Sylvera Rating system for durable engineered carbon removal projects is derived from a combination of carbon, additionality, permanence, and co-benefits scores.
These core pillars are combined in a series of matrices to ensure that underperformance in one area is not overshadowed by high performance in others. In other words, we perform a comprehensive life cycle assessment to fully understand the impact of biochar projects.
Carbon score
Our carbon score verifies whether the project has delivered on its carbon claims by comparing permanence adjustment factors, or rates of decay, for the project's biochar, to Sylvera's calculated factor using third-party data. All biochar used in soil applications is subject to decay, resulting in emissions released into the atmosphere. If a project calculates net GHG removals using a permanence adjustment factor, or rate of decay, that does not account for emitted carbon then there is a risk the project has delivered less carbon removals relative to the amount verified.
Additionality
Sylvera's additionality score assesses the likelihood the project activities would have been implemented in absence of the carbon revenues. It also quantifies the likelihood and extent the project is over-issuing credits due to an underestimation of life cycle emissions or the overestimation of the stability of the biochar stemming from its chemical composition.
Permanence
Permanence refers to the risk that the avoided emissions will later be reversed and released back into the atmosphere. Our permanence score uses a risk matrix approach to quantify major risks to carbon stock including: pests and pathogens, fire, storm and wind, flood, drought, and anthropogenic. The final score is calculated considering the additive and maximum risks present in the project. Sylvera's permanence helps buyers distinguish the relative degree of non-permanence (or reversal of carbon storage) risk between projects.
Co-benefits
Sylvera's co-benefits score examines the extent to which the project is implementing activities that support local biodiversity and communities, as well as the scale and likely impact of these activities. We use geospatial analysis and leverage our partnership with IBAT to assess the background level of biodiversity that is within the project area, using threatened species, biodiversity, and protected area data. When assessing community impact, we utilize data disclosed by project developers and the SDG framework to triangulate a project's community impact.
The use of biochar in soil applications has associated biodiversity co-benefits such as increased soil health and fertility, as well as improved moisture retention that can help conserve water use in crop production. However, there is a notable lack of community co-benefits in the design of biochar projects.
Support better biochar carbon projects with Sylvera
Sylvera's comprehensive biochar ratings will help you identify and purchase quality carbon credits. Doing so will not only help you offset company emissions, but support true climate change.
By evaluating biochar projects for carbon, additionality, permanence, and co-benefits—then assessing each in a way that's fair and balanced—we deliver trustworthy ratings that help corporate buyers and investors purchase biochar credits with confidence. Book a demo to learn more.
