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A handful of carbon

Nature volume 447, pages 143–144 (2007)Cite this article

Locking carbon up in soil makes more sense than storing it in plants and trees that eventually decompose, argues Johannes Lehmann. Can this idea work on a large scale?

An existing approach to removing carbon from the atmosphere is to grow plants that sequester carbon dioxide in their biomass or in soil organic matter2 (see graphic, overleaf). Indeed, methods for sequestering carbon dioxide through afforestation have already been accepted as tradable 'carbon offsets' under the Kyoto Protocol. But this sequestration can be taken a step further by heating the plant biomass without oxygen (a process known as low-temperature pyrolysis). Pyrolysis converts trees, grasses or crop residues into biochar, with twofold higher carbon content than ordinary biomass. Moreover, biochar locks up rapidly decomposing carbon in plant biomass in a much more durable form4.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Johannes Lehmann is in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA.,

    Johannes Lehmann

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  1. Johannes Lehmann
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Lehmann, J. A handful of carbon. Nature 447, 143–144 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/447143a

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