Sustainable BioChar Firm Uses ForesTrust Blockchain Supported by US Endowment for Forestry – Ledger Insights

This month, Wakefield BioChar began using blockchain to track incoming shipments of wood waste from lumber mills used to make BioChar, a soil additive used by farmers that absorbs carbon dioxide. The ForesTrust blockchain is a consortium solution launched by the US Endowment for Forestry and Communities and developed by Chainparency.

BioChar uses wood waste that would otherwise go to landfill and heats it to a high temperature to make BioChar. Although it sounds like it’s inherently polluting, it uses a process called pyrolysis that limits oxygen intake, causing it to smolder, which can make the heating process self-sustaining. The environmental benefit comes from the soil amendment’s ability to absorb CO2 for a very long time. However, it is not without controversy (see later).

In this case, the ForestTrust blockchain is used to pilot the tracking of wood waste from sawmills. But in other cases it is used to prove that wood is sustainably produced without unnecessary deforestation. Paper company Domtar was the founding member of ForestTrust, and this week the network signed up Thompson Appalachian, a manufacturer of wood products. Logging events on a public blockchain enables transparency about the provenance of the wood used.

Legislation is one of the drivers behind the need to prove sustainability. For example, the EU is finalizing legislation targeting the illegal timber trade to ensure that wood entering the EU does not come from illegal deforestation.

ForesTrust was originally conceived in 2020 in partnership with IBM, but Chainparency was named a technology partner last year, with three network members so far. Chainparency uses one of the lower profile public blockchains, GoChain.

“ForesTrust represents the future of how forest product supply chains can be managed. The network will elevate the entire industry, not only by streamlining and digitizing transactions and auditing, but by demonstrating the sustainability of forest products through real-time data,” said Pete Madden, CEO of the Endowment.

Returning to BioChar, the pyrolysis heating process to create the soil additive is not without controversy. While the Wall Street Journal recently published a supportive piece, researchers at Loughborough University said in 2019 that the self-sustaining pyrolysis heating process used to make biochar is “thermodynamically unproven, practically implausible and environmentally unsound.”

Meanwhile, there have been several other blockchain initiatives targeting timber or deforestation. In 2021, the Forest Stewardship Council launched the FSC blockchain, and Preferred by Nature partnered with iov42 for the Timber Chain. A year earlier, Brazilian meatpacker JBS SA launched its JBS Green Platform, using blockchain technology to compare livestock suppliers’ transport information. The aim was to ensure that cattle farming did not contribute to deforestation.