Rethinking Growth: How Biochar Life Aligns with a Sustainable Future

Adapted from a piece by Jason Highberger

As climate goals become more urgent, a pressing question is gaining attention from leaders and organisations: Can we continue growing our economies while reducing environmental harm? The traditional idea of "green growth" suggests we can achieve both through efficiency improvements and renewable energy adoption. However, a recent article by Jason Hickel and Giorgos Kallis, Is Green Growth Possible?, challenges this view. They argue that while technological advances are crucial, they won’t achieve the scale of change required. Instead, they advocate for systemic shifts that reduce consumption and prioritise well-being over GDP growth—a vision that aligns closely with the mission of Biochar Life.

At Biochar Life, we’re not just addressing environmental crises. We’re reimagining progress by focusing on both people and the planet. Here’s how our work aligns with the principles of reduced consumption and degrowth, and why this matters for building a sustainable future.

The Problem with Green Growth

Hickel and Kallis highlight a critical issue: the assumption that economic growth can be decoupled from environmental harm is flawed. Despite advances in renewable energy and efficiency, global carbon emissions and resource use remain tightly linked to economic activity.

Even under optimistic scenarios, the deployment of renewable energy cannot keep pace with both current emissions and the additional demand generated by continuous economic growth.

Hickel and Kallis argue that rather than focusing solely on efficiency, we need to embrace sufficiency—producing and consuming less in wealthy countries while prioritizing ecological health and social well-being over GDP growth. This shift away from endless economic expansion is essential to achieving climate goals.

How Biochar Life Contributes to a Degrowth Future

Biochar Life’s mission is rooted in sustainability, equity, and regenerative practices that resonate with the degrowth framework. Here’s how our work fits into this model:

1. Supporting Smallholder Farmers and Local Economies

At the heart of Biochar Life’s work is empowering smallholder farmers to adopt biochar technology. Biochar improves soil health, increases crop yields, and sequesters carbon. Our focus isn’t on maximizing profits or scaling unsustainably but on providing localized, context-specific solutions that benefit both communities and ecosystems.

By supporting smallholder farmers, we help reduce reliance on industrial-scale agriculture, which is resource-intensive and environmentally harmful. This shift toward localized food systems promotes resilience in the face of climate change and strengthens rural economies.

2. Redistributing Benefits Across the Value Chain

In line with degrowth principles, we emphasize equitable distribution of resources and benefits. The income generated from selling carbon credits supports the farmers and communities who implement biochar systems. This ensures that those at the forefront of climate solutions—often marginalized communities—receive fair compensation for their efforts.

This model stands in stark contrast to the traditional growth-driven economy, which often concentrates wealth and resources in the hands of a few.

3. Leveraging Carbon Removal as a Tool for Regeneration

While Hickel and Kallis caution against over-reliance on carbon removal technologies, biochar stands out as a proven and scalable solution with numerous co-benefits. Unlike high-tech solutions like BECCS (Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage), biochar integrates seamlessly into agricultural systems, improving food security while capturing carbon.

This regenerative approach aligns with the degrowth ethos by working with natural systems rather than exploiting them.

4. Reducing Waste and Promoting Circular Systems

Biochar Life’s approach turns agricultural waste into a valuable resource. By converting crop residues into biochar, we reduce the need for open burning—a major source of greenhouse gas emissions—and create a circular system where waste becomes a tool for regeneration.

This approach minimizes resource extraction and waste, key tenets of a degrowth economy.

5. Prioritizing Well-Being Over Consumption

Biochar Life’s model prioritizes the well-being of farmers and their communities. We focus on tangible improvements in livelihoods, food security, and resilience rather than economic metrics like GDP growth.

This vision of progress contrasts sharply with the consumer-driven growth model, which prioritizes profit and consumption over human and ecological health.

Pricing Carbon Removal: The Biochar Advantage

One of the critical questions in scaling sustainable solutions like biochar is pricing. Currently, biochar carbon removal credits are priced at $100 per tonne—a competitive figure considering the multiple co-benefits it offers beyond carbon sequestration.

Unlike other carbon removal technologies such as BECCS or direct air capture, biochar provides immediate and tangible benefits:

• Improved soil health
• Enhanced crop yields
• Waste management solutions

These co-benefits make biochar a compelling solution for both buyers and communities. The pricing reflects a strong value proposition, ensuring sustainability while supporting local livelihoods.

In global scenarios like the high-efficiency pathway described by Hickel and Kallis, carbon prices are projected to rise significantly—from $50 per tonne to as high as $236 per tonne by 2050. At $100 per tonne, biochar remains an affordable and impactful solution that aligns with future trajectories.

A Call to Action

The ideas of reduced consumption and degrowth can feel daunting, especially in a world so focused on growth. But Biochar Life is proof that alternative models are not only possible but necessary.

By supporting smallholder farmers, redistributing value across the supply chain, and promoting regenerative practices, we’re helping to build a future that prioritises people, food security, and climate resilience over unsustainable economic growth.

The choice is clear: We can continue chasing endless growth and risk further environmental breakdown, or we can invest in solutions that work within ecological limits while improving lives.

What will it be? A future of reckless growth or a regenerative, resilient planet?

The time to rethink progress is now.