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U.S. production rises to 151,329 metric tonnes as the industry moves toward commercial scale
Biochar accounts for 86% of durable carbon removal credits delivered since Q1 2022
The U.S. biochar industry has nearly tripled in economic value in just two years, as larger producers scale up operations and carbon removal credits become an increasingly important source of revenue.
The estimated economic value of the industry reached approximately $157 million in 2025, up from $53.6 million in 2023, according to the American Biochar Institute’s 2025 United States Biochar Market Report. That represents a compound annual growth rate of about 71%.
Production has also expanded rapidly. Estimated U.S. biochar output increased from 86,893 metric tonnes in 2023 to 151,329 metric tonnes in 2025, equivalent to a compound annual growth rate of about 32%.
The numbers point to a broader shift in biochar’s role — from a product primarily associated with soil improvement to a commercial industry increasingly connected to carbon removal, biomass management and climate finance.
Carbon Finance Changes the Economics
One of the most significant forces behind the industry’s expansion is the carbon market.
Biochar is produced by heating biomass under oxygen-limited conditions, typically through pyrolysis. The process converts part of the carbon contained in biomass into a stable, carbon-rich material that can store carbon for long periods when used in eligible durable applications.
For producers, that can create two sources of value: revenue from the physical biochar and revenue from verified carbon removal.
CDR.fyi data show that biochar carbon removal, or BCR, accounted for 86% of all durable CDR credits delivered from the first quarter of 2022 through the second quarter of 2025. Biochar represented an even higher 92% of durable credits retired over the period.
The distinction between contracted and delivered credits is important.
Biochar does not dominate every measure of the carbon removal market. It accounted for only about 10% of durable CDR volume contracted over the period, behind technologies such as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, or BECCS. But when it comes to credits actually delivered, biochar has established a commanding lead.
That suggests an important advantage in today’s carbon removal market: biochar is available at commercial scale now.
From Niche Product to Commercial Industry
The U.S. industry is also changing in scale.
Much of the recent production growth has come from larger producers, including operators using continuous auger and rotary-kiln systems. At the same time, smaller mobile systems continue to serve forestry, ecosystem restoration and biomass-management projects.
The result is an industry developing along two tracks: larger commercial facilities capable of supplying consistent volumes and decentralized systems that process locally available biomass closer to its source.
Agriculture remains the largest U.S. market for biochar, while applications are expanding into environmental management, water treatment and industrial uses. Woody biomass remains the dominant feedstock, linking the industry’s growth with forestry residues and other biomass resources.
This creates an economic connection between sectors that have traditionally been treated separately: agriculture and forestry generate biomass residues, pyrolysis converts some of that material into biochar, and the resulting product can generate value in both physical and carbon markets.
Biochar Leads in Delivered Carbon Removal
Biochar’s position becomes even clearer when viewed against the broader durable carbon removal market.
CDR.fyi recorded more than 3 million tonnes of BCR contracted from 2022 through the first half of 2025, with about 683,000 tonnes delivered by the end of the second quarter of 2025.
The market has also developed a relatively broad buyer base. CDR.fyi identified 290 unique purchasers of BCR credits since 2022, almost five times the number for the second-most widely purchased removal method in its dataset.
Cost, availability and relatively short delivery times are among the factors helping biochar attract buyers.
That helps explain an apparent contradiction in the market: biochar does not lead in total forward-contracted CDR volume, but it overwhelmingly leads in carbon removal credits already delivered.
Growth Comes With Constraints
Rapid expansion does not mean the industry has solved all of its challenges.
Limited market awareness, demand for the physical product and the need for widely adopted standards remain barriers to further growth.
Those issues become more important as production scales. Agricultural and industrial customers need consistent product specifications, while carbon-credit buyers need confidence that claimed removals are measurable and durable.
That places measurement, reporting and verification — MRV — at the center of biochar’s next phase.
The market ultimately depends not only on producing more biochar, but also on demonstrating where the biomass came from, how the biochar was produced and used, and how much carbon was durably stored.
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The larger story emerging from the U.S. market is not simply higher production. It is a change in how biochar creates economic value.
Historically, biochar’s business case was largely tied to the physical product, particularly its use in agriculture. Carbon markets add another layer by assigning economic value to verified atmospheric carbon removal.
That combination connects biomass, agriculture, forestry, waste management and carbon finance within a single emerging value chain.
The numbers are already substantial: U.S. biochar production reached an estimated 151,329 metric tonnes in 2025, the industry’s economic value approached $157 million, and biochar has become the dominant source of durable carbon removal credits actually delivered to buyers.
Biochar is no longer only a soil amendment.
It is becoming part of the carbon removal economy — turning biomass into a physical product while creating a new, measurable carbon asset.
Sources
This article is based primarily on the American Biochar Institute’s 2025 United States Biochar Market Report and CDR.fyi’s Biochar Carbon Removal Market Snapshot 2025. ABI provides the U.S. production and market-value data, while CDR.fyi provides durable carbon removal market data.
Source: American Biochar Institute, 2025 United States Biochar Market Report.
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