I’ve always lived by a simple rule: leave things better than you found them. If I borrow your tool, I want to hand it back sharper than when I got it. That’s how I look at the land, too. It’s a big part of why we make biochar here in Commerce, Georgia, from Georgia wood, and it’s why I want to talk plainly about one of the best things biochar does: it keeps carbon in the ground for a very long time.
First, what is biochar?
Biochar is a stable, carbon-rich material made by heating wood slowly with very little oxygen, a process called pyrolysis. What comes out keeps the wood’s natural cell structure: a light, porous carbon full of tiny chambers.
Georgia Wood Char
A complete circle of sustainability
Georgia trees pull carbon dioxide from the air and build it into wood as they grow.
Wood is heated slowly with very little oxygen, turning its carbon into stable, porous biochar.
Biochar’s tiny pores give beneficial soil microbes a protected, lasting place to live.
Thriving microbes cycle nutrients and help the soil hold water where roots can reach it.
Healthy, living soil supports strong roots and vigorous plant growth.
The carbon in biochar stays in the soil for decades to centuries.
How biochar holds on to carbon
Every tree spends its whole life pulling carbon dioxide out of the air and building it into wood. When that tree dies and decays, most of that carbon goes right back into the atmosphere.
I see it in the woods all the time. A logger goes into a tract and finds a patch of beetle-killed pine. Left where it stands, that wood slowly releases its carbon back into the air.
Pyrolysis changes that story. Heating the wood slowly with little to no oxygen keeps much of the carbon in the solid material. The carbon gets rearranged into tightly bonded ring structures that soil microbes have a very hard time breaking down. Wood might decay in a matter of years. Biochar carbon in soil lasts much longer, typically for decades to centuries, and the most stable portion can last far longer than that (Nature Geoscience).
That staying power has been measured. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) lists biochar as a recognized way to remove carbon dioxide, with storage times of decades to centuries (IPCC). A widely used scientific model for tracking biochar in soil estimates that roughly 54 to 84 percent of biochar’s carbon is still there after 100 years (Energy & Environmental Science, summarizing Woolf et al.). How long it lasts depends on how the char is made and where it goes.
People figured this out a long time ago. Archaeologists still find char in the soils of ancient farm fields, put there centuries back. It’s been holding its ground the whole time.
Georgia Wood Char
Carbon, by the numbers
Biochar holds carbon in a stable form you can see, weigh and hold in your hand.
- Decades to centuriesHow long biochar carbon typically stays in soilIPCC · Nature Geoscience
- 54–84%Of biochar’s carbon estimated to remain after 100 yearsWoolf et al. model
- ~38 billion tCarbon dioxide from fossil fuels worldwide in 2025Global Carbon Project
- ~425 ppmCarbon dioxide in the atmosphere, expected for 2025Global Carbon Project
Sources cited in this post: IPCC; Nature Geoscience; Energy & Environmental Science (summarizing Woolf et al.); Global Carbon Project.
Why the scale matters
Here’s the size of the job. The Global Carbon Project estimates that the world released about 38 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels in 2025. Counting land-use changes like deforestation, the total was about 42 billion tons. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was expected to reach about 425 parts per million in 2025 (Global Carbon Project).
Cutting emissions is the main job. Scientists also agree that we’ll need to pull carbon back out of the air and store it somewhere it stays put. Biochar is one of the few ways to do that with a physical material you can see, weigh and hold in your hand. The carbon is sitting right there in the char. That’s also what stands behind a biochar carbon credit; see carbon credits, explained simply.
Why it matters to all of us
Most folks I talk to don’t think in parts per million. They care about their soil, their water and their neighbors. The good news is that biochar helps with all of that while it holds its carbon.
It gives soil microbes a lasting home. I like to call biochar a little microbe condo. All those tiny pores give beneficial microbes a protected place to live and multiply. Because the char sticks around for so long, that home lasts for years and years.
It holds water and nutrients where roots can reach them. Biochar’s porous structure soaks up water and holds on to it. Our biochar holds up to 5.6 times its weight in water that roots can use. It also binds nutrients, so they stay in the root zone where plants can use them. In my mind, it turns everything into a slow release.
It keeps water cleaner downstream. When nutrients stay in the soil, more of them stay out of ponds, creeks and reservoirs. That helps the people downstream, including folks who will never know someone upstream made a wise choice.
It puts waste wood to good use. Wood that can’t become lumber, like tree tops, beetle-damaged timber and arborist trimmings, becomes something lasting and useful.
To me, that’s the full circle. You clean up one thing and it benefits something else. It doesn’t get much better than that.
What we do here in Commerce, Georgia
At Georgia Wood Char, we make premium biochar at commercial scale on US Highway 441 in Commerce. We run under license from Biochar Now, which holds the patents on the kiln technology, and we are the largest operation using Biochar Now’s technology. We run 90 kilns today, with a goal of 180.
All of our wood comes from Georgia, most of it from close to home. It comes from sustainable forestry, from municipal and public projects that need trees cleared, and from arborists’ trimmings. Each burn is computer-controlled and closely monitored, so our biochar comes out consistent from batch to batch. We cool the char slowly without quenching, which keeps its cellular structure intact, and that structure is what holds water, nutrients and carbon. We’re an ISCC PLUS Certificate Holder.
The work also matters close to home. Turning Georgia wood into biochar gives loggers and landowners another good home for their wood, and keeps good people working in our part of Georgia.
Georgia Wood Char
Made in Commerce, Georgia
Georgia wood, made into biochar on US Highway 441.
Map of Georgia with a pin on Commerce, in northeast Georgia, along US Highway 441, where Georgia Wood Char makes its biochar.
The bottom line
The biggest measure of wealth, I believe, is how you treat people and the place you live. Biochar lets us treat both a little better. It builds healthier soil today, protects water for our neighbors, and keeps carbon locked away for generations to come.
That’s leaving it better than we found it. If you want to learn more about our biochar or our insured carbon credits, we’d love to hear from you through our contact form or (706) 534-9895.
Scott Ledford, Founder, Georgia Wood Char