Google investing in biochar

Friday 11 Apr 2025

 
Google has agreed to purchase 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide removal credits from Indian startup Varaha, its first such deal with a carbon project in India and the largest involving biomass-produced biochar (also called horticultural charcoal or “black gold” for soils).

The offtake agreement credits will be delivered to Google by 2030 from Varaha’s industrial biochar project in the western Indian state of Gujarat, the two firms said in January.

Varaha’s project will generate industrial biochar from an invasive plant species, Prosopis Juliflora, using its pyrolysis facility in Gujarat. The invasive species impacts plant biodiversity and has overtaken grasslands used for livestock. Varaha will harvest the plant and make efforts to restore native grasslands in the region, the company’s co-founder and CEO Madhur Jain said in an interview. Once the biochar is produced, a third-party auditor will submit their report to Puro.Earth to generate credits.

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Source: TechCrunch
Image credit: Noah Loverbear


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