IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v15y2024i1d10.1038_s41467-024-45314-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring negative emission potential of biochar to achieve carbon neutrality goal in China

Author

Listed:
  • Xu Deng

    (Tsinghua University)

  • Fei Teng

    (Tsinghua University)

  • Minpeng Chen

    (Renmin University of China)

  • Zhangliu Du

    (China Agricultural University)

  • Bin Wang

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Renqiang Li

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Pan Wang

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Abstract

Limiting global warming to within 1.5 °C might require large-scale deployment of premature negative emission technologies with potentially adverse effects on the key sustainable development goals. Biochar has been proposed as an established technology for carbon sequestration with co-benefits in terms of soil quality and crop yield. However, the considerable uncertainties that exist in the potential, cost, and deployment strategies of biochar systems at national level prevent its deployment in China. Here, we conduct a spatially explicit analysis to investigate the negative emission potential, economics, and priority deployment sites of biochar derived from multiple feedstocks in China. Results show that biochar has negative emission potential of up to 0.92 billion tons of CO2 per year with an average net cost of US$90 per ton of CO2 in a sustainable manner, which could satisfy the negative emission demands in most mitigation scenarios compatible with China’s target of carbon neutrality by 2060.

Suggested Citation

  • Xu Deng & Fei Teng & Minpeng Chen & Zhangliu Du & Bin Wang & Renqiang Li & Pan Wang, 2024. "Exploring negative emission potential of biochar to achieve carbon neutrality goal in China," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-45314-y
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45314-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-45314-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-024-45314-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xiaofan Xing & Rong Wang & Nico Bauer & Philippe Ciais & Junji Cao & Jianmin Chen & Xu Tang & Lin Wang & Xin Yang & Olivier Boucher & Daniel Goll & Josep Peñuelas & Ivan A. Janssens & Yves Balkanski &, 2021. "Spatially explicit analysis identifies significant potential for bioenergy with carbon capture and storage in China," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Cameron Hepburn & Ella Adlen & John Beddington & Emily A. Carter & Sabine Fuss & Niall Mac Dowell & Jan C. Minx & Pete Smith & Charlotte K. Williams, 2019. "The technological and economic prospects for CO2 utilization and removal," Nature, Nature, vol. 575(7781), pages 87-97, November.
    3. Xue, Shuai & Lewandowski, Iris & Wang, Xiaoyu & Yi, Zili, 2016. "Assessment of the production potentials of Miscanthus on marginal land in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 932-943.
    4. Qin, Zhangcai & Zhuang, Qianlai & Cai, Ximing & He, Yujie & Huang, Yao & Jiang, Dong & Lin, Erda & Liu, Yaling & Tang, Ya & Wang, Michael Q., 2018. "Biomass and biofuels in China: Toward bioenergy resource potentials and their impacts on the environment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 2387-2400.
    5. Vera Heck & Dieter Gerten & Wolfgang Lucht & Alexander Popp, 2018. "Author Correction: Biomass-based negative emissions difficult to reconcile with planetary boundaries," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(4), pages 345-345, April.
    6. Huang, Xiaodan & Chang, Shiyan & Zheng, Dingqian & Zhang, Xiliang, 2020. "The role of BECCS in deep decarbonization of China's economy: A computable general equilibrium analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    7. Lauri, Pekka & Forsell, Nicklas & Gusti, Mykola & Havlík, Petr & Obersteiner, Michael, 2019. "Global Woody Biomass Harvest Volumes and Forest Area Use Under Different SSP-RCP Scenarios," Journal of Forest Economics, now publishers, vol. 34(3-4), pages 285-309, November.
    8. Matteo Muratori & Nico Bauer & Steven K. Rose & Marshall Wise & Vassilis Daioglou & Yiyun Cui & Etsushi Kato & Matthew Gidden & Jessica Strefler & Shinichiro Fujimori & Ronald D. Sands & Detlef P. Vuu, 2020. "EMF-33 insights on bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS)," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 163(3), pages 1621-1637, December.
    9. Christopher S. Galik, 2020. "A continuing need to revisit BECCS and its potential," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 2-3, January.
    10. Dominic Woolf & James E. Amonette & F. Alayne Street-Perrott & Johannes Lehmann & Stephen Joseph, 2010. "Sustainable biochar to mitigate global climate change," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 1(1), pages 1-9, December.
    11. Nie, Yaoyu & Cai, Wenjia & Wang, Can & Huang, Guorui & Ding, Qun & Yu, Le & Li, Haoran & Ji, Duoying, 2019. "Assessment of the potential and distribution of an energy crop at 1-km resolution from 2010 to 2100 in China – The case of sweet sorghum," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(C), pages 395-407.
    12. Rachel Cernansky, 2015. "Agriculture: State-of-the-art soil," Nature, Nature, vol. 517(7534), pages 258-260, January.
    13. He, Xinyan & Liu, Zhaoxia & Niu, Wenjuan & Yang, Li & Zhou, Tan & Qin, Di & Niu, Zhiyou & Yuan, Qiaoxia, 2018. "Effects of pyrolysis temperature on the physicochemical properties of gas and biochar obtained from pyrolysis of crop residues," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 746-756.
    14. Stephanie Roe & Charlotte Streck & Michael Obersteiner & Stefan Frank & Bronson Griscom & Laurent Drouet & Oliver Fricko & Mykola Gusti & Nancy Harris & Tomoko Hasegawa & Zeke Hausfather & Petr Havlík, 2019. "Contribution of the land sector to a 1.5 °C world," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 9(11), pages 817-828, November.
    15. Vera Heck & Dieter Gerten & Wolfgang Lucht & Alexander Popp, 2018. "Biomass-based negative emissions difficult to reconcile with planetary boundaries," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(2), pages 151-155, February.
    16. Alexander Popp & Steven Rose & Katherine Calvin & Detlef Vuuren & Jan Dietrich & Marshall Wise & Elke Stehfest & Florian Humpenöder & Page Kyle & Jasper Vliet & Nico Bauer & Hermann Lotze-Campen & Dav, 2014. "Land-use transition for bioenergy and climate stabilization: model comparison of drivers, impacts and interactions with other land use based mitigation options," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 123(3), pages 495-509, April.
    17. Nathan P. Gillett & Megan Kirchmeier-Young & Aurélien Ribes & Hideo Shiogama & Gabriele C. Hegerl & Reto Knutti & Guillaume Gastineau & Jasmin G. John & Lijuan Li & Larissa Nazarenko & Nan Rosenbloom , 2021. "Constraining human contributions to observed warming since the pre-industrial period," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 11(3), pages 207-212, March.
    18. Xun Zhang & Jingying Fu & Gang Lin & Dong Jiang & Xiaoxi Yan, 2017. "Switchgrass-Based Bioethanol Productivity and Potential Environmental Impact from Marginal Lands in China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-15, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Negri, Valentina & Galán-Martín, Ángel & Pozo, Carlos & Fajardy, Mathilde & Reiner, David M. & Mac Dowell, Niall & Guillén-Gosálbez, Gonzalo, 2021. "Life cycle optimization of BECCS supply chains in the European Union," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 298(C).
    2. Kang, Yating & Yang, Qing & Bartocci, Pietro & Wei, Hongjian & Liu, Sylvia Shuhan & Wu, Zhujuan & Zhou, Hewen & Yang, Haiping & Fantozzi, Francesco & Chen, Hanping, 2020. "Bioenergy in China: Evaluation of domestic biomass resources and the associated greenhouse gas mitigation potentials," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    3. Weng, Yuwei & Chang, Shiyan & Cai, Wenjia & Wang, Can, 2019. "Exploring the impacts of biofuel expansion on land use change and food security based on a land explicit CGE model: A case study of China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 236(C), pages 514-525.
    4. Vera, Ivan & Wicke, Birka & Lamers, Patrick & Cowie, Annette & Repo, Anna & Heukels, Bas & Zumpf, Colleen & Styles, David & Parish, Esther & Cherubini, Francesco & Berndes, Göran & Jager, Henriette & , 2022. "Land use for bioenergy: Synergies and trade-offs between sustainable development goals," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    5. Guo, Jian-Xin & Tan, Xianchun & Gu, Baihe & Zhu, Kaiwei, 2022. "Integration of supply chain management of hybrid biomass power plant with carbon capture and storage operation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 1055-1065.
    6. Weiwei Wang, 2023. "Integrated Assessment of Economic Supply and Environmental Effects of Biomass Co-Firing in Coal Power Plants: A Case Study of Jiangsu, China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-22, March.
    7. Qing Wang & Hanbing Xiong & Tingzhen Ming, 2022. "Methods of Large-Scale Capture and Removal of Atmospheric Greenhouse Gases," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-5, September.
    8. Galán-Martín, Ángel & Contreras, María del Mar & Romero, Inmaculada & Ruiz, Encarnación & Bueno-Rodríguez, Salvador & Eliche-Quesada, Dolores & Castro-Galiano, Eulogio, 2022. "The potential role of olive groves to deliver carbon dioxide removal in a carbon-neutral Europe: Opportunities and challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    9. Matamala, Yolanda & Flores, Francisco & Arriet, Andrea & Khan, Zarrar & Feijoo, Felipe, 2023. "Probabilistic feasibility assessment of sequestration reliance for climate targets," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    10. Günther, Philipp & Ekardt, Felix, 2022. "Human Rights and Large-Scale Carbon Dioxide Removal: Potential Limits to BECCS and DACCS Deployment," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 11(12), pages 1-29.
    11. Bello, Sara & Galán-Martín, Ángel & Feijoo, Gumersindo & Moreira, Maria Teresa & Guillén-Gosálbez, Gonzalo, 2020. "BECCS based on bioethanol from wood residues: Potential towards a carbon-negative transport and side-effects," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    12. Weng, Yuwei & Cai, Wenjia & Wang, Can, 2021. "Evaluating the use of BECCS and afforestation under China’s carbon-neutral target for 2060," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 299(C).
    13. Ben Zhang & Jie Yang & Yinxia Cao, 2021. "Assessing Potential Bioenergy Production on Urban Marginal Land in 20 Major Cities of China by the Use of Multi-View High-Resolution Remote Sensing Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-20, June.
    14. Philipp Günther & Felix Ekardt, 2022. "Human Rights and Large-Scale Carbon Dioxide Removal: Potential Limits to BECCS and DACCS Deployment," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-29, November.
    15. Ball-Burack, Ari & Salas, Pablo & Mercure, Jean-Francois, 2022. "Great power, great responsibility: Assessing power sector policy for the UK’s net zero target," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    16. Mauricio Marrone & Martina K Linnenluecke, 2020. "Interdisciplinary Research Maps: A new technique for visualizing research topics," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(11), pages 1-16, November.
    17. Kate Dooley & Ellycia Harrould‐Kolieb & Anita Talberg, 2021. "Carbon‐dioxide Removal and Biodiversity: A Threat Identification Framework," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 12(S1), pages 34-44, April.
    18. Zhang, Ping & Zhuo, La & Li, Meng & Liu, Yilin & Wu, Pute, 2023. "Assessment of advanced bioethanol potential under water and land resource constraints in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 359-371.
    19. Ángel Galán-Martín & Daniel Vázquez & Selene Cobo & Niall Dowell & José Antonio Caballero & Gonzalo Guillén-Gosálbez, 2021. "Delaying carbon dioxide removal in the European Union puts climate targets at risk," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.
    20. Dumas, Patrice & Wirsenius, Stefan & Searchinger, Tim & Andrieu, Nadine & Vogt-Schilb, Adrien, 2022. "Options to achieve net-zero emissions from agriculture and land use changes in Latin America and the Caribbean," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 12385, Inter-American Development Bank.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-45314-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.