India’s transition to a low-carbon economy will not be driven by technology alone. It will depend on how effectively we unlock value from the resources we already have. One of India’s significant untapped climate assets is not hidden underground or locked inside expensive infrastructure; it is lying in our fields.

According to the Ministry of Power’s SAMARTH Mission, India generates an estimated 230 million tonnes of surplus biomass every year — much of which is burned, dumped or left to decompose. For decades, this has been treated primarily as an environmental challenge. I see it differently. It is also an economic opportunity. The question we need to ask is no longer how we dispose of agricultural waste, but how we turn it into value for farmers, industries and the wider economy.

This is where biochar can change the equation. Produced through thermochemical processes such as pyrolysis and gasification, biochar converts agricultural residue into a stable, carbon-rich material while also enabling useful energy to be generated during the process. More importantly, it opens the possibility of a new value chain in which agricultural residue becomes a commercial resource, farmers participate in carbon markets and carbon removal acquires economic value.

The opportunity starts with agriculture. Crop-residue burning remains a recurring challenge, particularly in regions where collection and transportation make stubble management difficult and expensive. Converting this residue into biochar offers a more productive pathway. It can create a useful agricultural and industrial product while generating measurable carbon removal that can potentially be monetised through carbon markets.

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