New green wheeze to save planet – burying charcoal!

... but it’s imported from Namibia first

A CARBON offset company has come up with a bizarre way to allay ‘green guilt’ – it charges people to bury bags of charcoal at the bottom of a quarry.

Those wanting to offset carbon emissions, such as from a plane trip or car journey, can pay for the equivalent amount of charcoal to be stored safely underground.

The company, Solid Carbon Storage, claims to be taking carbon dioxide (CO2) ‘out of the carbon cycle’ by converting dead trees and plants into charcoal.

But most of the charcoal it uses is imported from Namibia in southern Africa. And an expert who supports using charcoal to combat climate change said burying it in a quarry is ‘a bit of a waste’. The company, based in Yorkshire’s former coal mining heartland, boasts of doing ‘something completely different’ to combat climate change and describes its scheme as ‘un-coal mining’.

It argues that if left to rot the dead trees and plants would, over time, release damaging CO2 into the atmosphere. The same harm would be caused by burning charcoal on home barbecues.

But charcoal left alone is ‘stable’ and ‘friendly to the environment’ and burying it removes it from the carbon cycle, the company says.

Charcoal is created by burning trees and plants in a sealed container, a process known as pyrolysis. This effectively converts CO2 that would have been released into the atmosphere into a solid form that does not emit the gas. The scheme comes amid controversy over carbon offsetting.

Last week Sir Elton John revealed that he had made a donation to offset the carbon footprint caused by flying the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on a private jet to stay in his palatial villa on the French Riviera. Greenpeace’s chief scientist, Dr Doug Parr, led the criticism, saying that carbon offsetting was not a ‘meaningful response’ to flight emissions. The company to which Sir Elton donated uses funds to back specific projects relating to green energy and reducing deforestation.

Charcoal storage doesn’t come cheap. Solid Carbon Storage suggests a £58 donation for a European flight and £187 for a flight to the United States.

Explaining the firm’s system, director Matthew Tulley told the BBC: ‘We are wanting to lock the CO2 in the ground because there’s a major problem with global warming. We’ve trapped that carbon and it’s stored underground, a bit like un-coal mining.’

He added: ‘We are a start-up company. We’ve done 12 tons, so we’ve helped quite a few people with offsetting their car fuel or their flights.’ Once enough charcoal has been bought by customers the first batch will be buried in a quarry by the Barnsley-based company. Charcoal is bought from a Derbyshire firm. Most of the charcoal is said to be made in Namibia from ‘woody weeds’ on farmland. It is sent by ship and road to the UK.

Solid Carbon Storage said transportation makes up 10 per cent of the charcoal’s carbon footprint and is taken into account in the offsetting calculations. Tests ensure it is safe to store in the ground.

Biochar – forms of charcoal made from organic matter – is becoming popular as an eco-friendly product that is added to soil in gardens and farmland to enrich it.

Professor Stuart Haszeldine, from the UK Biochar Research Centre at Edinburgh University, said burying it deep underground is a ‘bit of a waste’.

He said: ‘We are not getting very good value out of this environmentally. Charcoal is effectively being dumped into the quarry when it could be used as a soil enhancer.’