About Mattias Gustafsson
Through his work as a process engineer in wastewater treatment, Mattias Gustafsson discovered pyrolysis and biochar in his search for alternative treatment methods in 2009. Together with his colleague Lotta Ek, Mattias started the first biochar consultancy firm, EcoTopic, in 2012. For the past 11 years, Mattias has supported organizations in starting production and use of biochar, developed regulations and certification systems, and built the industry both in Sweden and internationally. Mattias is one of the founders of the Swedish biochar association, was project manager for the Stockholm Biochar Project and technical expert for Bloomberg Philanthropies in supporting urban biochar projects in Europe and the US.
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Intro Content
RBC & CEO Activism
Biodiversity
Climate
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Renewable Energy, Carbon Sinks and Soil Improvement: Understanding the potential of biochar
Biochar is a carbon-rich material similar to charcoal that can be a reliable carbon sink, a climate-positive heating source, an amendment for soil and much more—all at once! So why isn’t it getting more attention and growing faster on a global scale? Banner: Jacqueline Hellmann/Ecotopic
Recent Comments
I do not understand the sentence "At the same time, the financial conditions for farmers to pay the full cost of producing biochar is often not possible." What does it mean? What is the problem?
In general, is financing a bottleneck for biochar use?
Dear Peter Kraneveld, thank you for your question. It means that the price for biochar today can be too high for farmers for direct soil application. But cascade use, use for high valuable crops and by including the trade of Biochar Carbon Removals the financial conditions can improve significantly for farmer soil use. Today the farmers sell the biochar to other applications. The main market in Sweden is the use as soil amendment in urban soils.
Yes, in general the biochar industry requires more financing.