Summary
This review by Pete Smith examines soil carbon sequestration and biochar as negative emissions technologies for climate stabilisation, comparing their mitigation potential and implementation constraints against other NET approaches including direct air capture, enhanced weathering, and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. The analysis indicates that soil carbon sequestration and biochar each offer approximately 0.7 GtCeq yr⁻¹ negative emission potential with potentially lower impacts on land, water, nutrients and energy than competing NETs, though limitations centre on sink saturation and reversibility. The author concludes that integrated assessment models should incorporate these soil-based options to enable fuller exploration of their role in achieving 2 °C climate targets.
UK applicability
The findings are broadly applicable to UK agriculture, where soil carbon sequestration through management practices and biochar incorporation could contribute to national climate commitments. However, UK-specific assessments of land availability, water stress, and economic viability would be necessary to determine feasible implementation scales.
Key measures
Negative emission potential (GtCeq yr⁻¹); comparative impacts on land use, water use, nutrient cycling, albedo, energy requirements and implementation cost across multiple negative emissions technologies
Outcomes reported
The study assessed the negative emission potential of soil carbon sequestration and biochar addition, estimating each at 0.7 GtCeq yr⁻¹, and evaluated their global impacts on land use, water, nutrients, albedo, energy requirements and cost relative to other negative emissions technologies.
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