Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has taken recent steps to encourage the use of biochar as a (a) soil promoter, (b) substitute for imported fertiliser and (c) carbon capture method.

The Department through its Direct Air Capture and Greenhouse Gas Removal Innovation Programme is supporting five biochar pilot demonstrators for carbon capture, at a value of £18.7million, to be completed by March 2025. UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) is also funding a biochar demonstrator project that will investigate the stability of biochar, as well as its impacts on the environment and soil ecosystems, in different UK land management scenarios. Use of biochar as a technology is at an early stage of development and therefore deployment potential, costs and possible side-effects from use are uncertain. Results from the projects supported will help to inform future government policy on biochar as a greenhouse gas removal method.