Inclusion of sustainable agriculture in the carbon market:

the case of biochar

Ilan Stavi1, Menashe Zelicha2

1Dead Sea & Arava Science Center, Ketura 88840, Israel. E-mail: istavi@yahoo.com

2Menashe Zelicha Consulting, 7th El Al st. Ramat Gan 52412 Israel. E-mail: Zelicha.Menashe@gmail.com

Agriculture-derive greenhouse gases (GHGs)

Agricultural practices account for about 25% of the carbon-dioxide (CO2), 50% of the methane (CH4), and 70% of the nitrous-oxide (N2O) emissions globally.

Hutchinson et al. (2007)

Conservation farming vs. Intensive farming

Effect of crop management practices on SOC sequestration (Jarecki and Lal, 2003)

Terra Preta do Indio Anthropogenic Soil

(Slush & Burn)

Portable Unit installed at a farm location in Northern NSW, Australia. Best Energy Ltd.

Wadham Energy power plant in California generates 26.5 megawatts of electricity from rice hulls, enough to power about 22,000 homes. The plant is one of about 30 operating in California that generate electricity from solid biomass. (Jenkins et al. 2009)

two-barrel home-made kiln

Ketura

two-barrel home-made kiln

Grind date palm fronds’ derived biochar

Dead Sea & Arava Science Center

Demonstration Biochar application in soil, January 10th 2011, Ketura

Biochar rate: 1 kg m-2

biochar mixed in topsoil

Weeks

CO

2 µg

cm

-2 s

-1

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 18 22 28 52

Manure added

Manure effect, biochar effect, and time are all significant

+Manure Biochar 0

20

g/kg

Impact of biochar on soil respiration

Rogovska et al. (2009)

Schematics for biomass or bio-char remaining after charring and decomposition in soil vs. range of biomass C remaining after decomposition of crop residues. From Jenkinson and Ayanaba (1977). (Lehmann et al., 2006)

C recovery in biochar

Schematics for biomass or bio-char remaining after charring and decomposition in soil. C remaining from biomass decomposition after 100 years. From IPCC (1996). (Lehmann et al., 2006)

Biochar impact on soil and vegetation

• Increased cation exchange capacity (CEC) and nutrient retention, augmenting the soil chemical quality

(Liang et al., 2006)

• Enhanced structure formation and stability, as well as water holding capacity and hydraulic conductivity, improving the soil physical quality

(Laird et al., 2010)

• Enlarged water and nutrient efficiency, increasing net primary productivity (NPP)

(Marris, 2006)

Biochar: Win Win Scenario

Agronomic Environmental productivity sustainability

A case study: Agricultural wastes in the Arava Valley

(hyper arid climate) • Date palm fronds (~ 5,000 Mg year-1)

• Fruit trees prunings [pomegranates] (?)

• Vegetables’ stalks from green-houses/net-houses (~

5,000 Mg year-1)

• Harvest flowers’ stalks from green-houses/net-houses (?)

Total: More than 10,000 Mg dry biomass year-1

THE ALTERNATIVE ! March 2011, Ketura

Environmental solution for waste disposal

Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)

• Under the Kyoto protocol • Initiated in 2005 • Israel is a non annex 1 party (developing

countries) – could participate in CDM activities

• Parties are now negotiating future actions of the mechanism

Voluntary carbon markets • Not all projects designed to mitigate GHG emissions from

agriculture operate under the UN Framework

• Overall, these markets are small relative to regulated markets, including the CDM

• Voluntary markets offer alternative, more flexible, ways of financing agricultural land-use projects

• Most voluntary market transactions originate in the United States, which is not a party to the Kyoto Protocol

Larson et al. (2011)

Israel domestic GHG reduction scheme

• The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor (TAMAT) and the Ministry of Environmental Protection has develop a scheme to reduce GHG (including increased energy efficiency and decreased emissions)

• Mostly related to CDM procedures with few exemptions

• A grant of 20% of the total project can be retrieved • Additional 15%-25% to new Israeli technology

implemented • ~100 M NIS to be delivered by the end of 2012

Conclusions

• Finding reliable ways to calculate the impact of land-use practices on soil carbon sequestration that take into account local agro-climatic differences are important for developing efficient policies (Larson et al., 2011).

• Specifically, due to its high efficiency in sequestering carbon for the long-run, the biochar sector should be of high priority for financing

• Payments for Environmental Services (PES)