{"id":38806,"date":"2026-02-26T17:37:05","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T16:37:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/?p=38806"},"modified":"2026-02-26T17:38:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T16:38:07","slug":"biochar-in-the-new-european-certification-framework-significance-and-impact-on-biodiversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/2026\/02\/26\/biochar-in-the-new-european-certification-framework-significance-and-impact-on-biodiversity\/","title":{"rendered":"Biochar in the new European certification framework: Importance and impact on biodiversity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) <a href=\"https:\/\/eur-lex.europa.eu\/legal-content\/SK\/TXT\/?uri=CELEX:32024R3012\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">2024\/3012<\/span><\/a>, adopted on 27 November 2024, represents a breakthrough in the European Union&#039;s drive to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. This voluntary framework for the certification of permanent carbon removal<!--more-->, carbon agriculture and carbon storage in products also creates space for innovative technologies such as <strong>biochar production and application<\/strong> (biochar).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Biochar as a specific activity under the regulation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Regulation (EU) 2024\/3012 explicitly recognises biochar as an activity that can bring significant environmental benefits. However, due to its nature, specific rules apply:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Variability of benefits:<\/strong> The regulation states that activities based on the use of biochar may lead to <strong>different types of net benefits<\/strong> in terms of carbon removal if <strong>different duration of its storage<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Individual conditions:<\/strong> The net benefit depends on the specific conditions under which the activity takes place. Therefore, the Regulation requires that the relevant certification methodologies set out <strong>adequate monitoring and accountability rules<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Impact on the environment and biodiversity<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One of the pillars of the new regulation is to ensure that carbon removal activities are fully consistent with the Union&#039;s climate objectives. <strong>biodiversity and zero pollution<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>The principle of &quot;do no significant harm&quot;:<\/strong> Any certified activity, including those related to biochar, must not significantly harm environmental objectives such as water protection, transition to a circular economy, or pollution prevention.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mandatory biodiversity benefits:<\/strong> If biochar application is classified as part of <strong>carbon agriculture<\/strong>, must create at least a minimum <strong>benefits for the protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems<\/strong>, including soil health and prevention of soil degradation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Biomass sustainability:<\/strong> When producing biochar, care must be taken to <strong>sustainable use of biomass<\/strong>. The regulation emphasizes the application of <strong>the principle of cascading biomass use<\/strong> and preventing unsustainable demand for raw materials.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Biochar Certification Criteria<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In order for biochar to be certified and its units recognised in the Union register, it must meet strict <strong>quality criteria<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Quantification (Article 4):<\/strong> The activity must bring <strong>net benefit<\/strong> in terms of carbon removal, meaning that the amount of carbon removed must exceed the greenhouse gas emissions generated over the entire life cycle of the activity.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Complementarity (Article 5):<\/strong> The activity must go beyond legal requirements and its implementation must be motivated by the stimulating effect of certification.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Long-term storage (Article 6):<\/strong> Operators must demonstrate an effort to <strong>long-term carbon storage<\/strong> and monitor the risks of its re-release into the atmosphere.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Regulation (EU) 2024\/3012 opens the door to the wider use of biochar in Europe as a legitimate tool in the fight against climate change. By setting clear rules for transparency and sustainability, it ensures that biochar is not just used for carbon storage, but also becomes a tool for <strong>promoting soil health and restoring European biodiversity<\/strong>. <em><strong>JRi&amp;CO2AI<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Regulation (EU) 2024\/3012 of the European Parliament and of the Council, adopted on 27 November 2024, represents a breakthrough step in the European Union&#039;s drive to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. This voluntary framework for the certification of permanent carbon removals<\/p>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-udrzatelnost_uhlikova-neutralita"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38806"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38809,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38806\/revisions\/38809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}