‘More research needed’ on charcoal carbon storage plan

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our or .

| Sourced From |

A CSIRO scientist studying the use of charcoal waste for carbon storage says intensive research is needed to prove it is suitable for all Australian conditions.

The plan involves burning biomass without oxygen; half can then be turned into charcoal pellets called biochar and incorporated into soil. The other half can be used as a biofuel.

Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull told the Young Liberals conference in Canberra on Saturday that the Federal Government’s climate change strategy has focused too narrowly on the emissions trading scheme and ignores other methods of reducing emissions.

The Opposition says that adding the waste product to agricultural land will increase soil fertility and store atmospheric carbon and it has been included in the Opposition’s new climate change policy.

But Dr Evelyn Krull says intensive research is needed.

“Studies in Australia were done on very sandy soils, very infertile soils,” she said.

“I am familiar with the researchers that conducted that research and I’m very confident that their results are real and can be applied to other sandy soils , but for example I wouldn’t apply them to clay soils in New South Wales.”

She says biochar needs to be tested on a wide variety of soil types before it is known if it will be effective.

A soon-to-be-released CSIRO report says there is a potential for 1 billion tonnes of carbon a year to be sequestered in 30 years but much more research is needed.