Project founder Josiah Hunt welcomes members to Wren's first U.S.-based climate project

Hey there. For this update, we're going to let Josiah, the founder of Pacific Biochar, do the talking. This is taken directly from a letter written to Wren:

Josiah: "Hello Wren members! I'm thrilled that you have decided to support Pacific Biochar in our carbon removal efforts. Thank you so much for your support.

We’ve been making biochar for over a decade, supported purely by it’s agronomic value and driven by a passion to put massive amounts of carbon back in the ground. We’ve always believed that one day our biochar would be valued in carbon markets as well, an inflection point that would allow this carbon drawdown pathway to realize it’s full potential. Two years ago, in 2019, that time arrived, and we've been working hard to sequester as much carbon as possible ever since.

Pacific Biochar started with a simple question:

“California forests are facing an overload of fuel, leading to catastrophic fires, and the State wants to remedy this problem– if all of that excess biomass were made into biochar, would there be enough soil to accept it?”

The answer was yes.

There are 160 million dead trees in the forests we work in, and there's more than enough soil in California to accept biochar from all those trees. So we remove that excess biomass, which helps prevent wildfires, and we turn it into biochar which draws down carbon, improves water conservation, and reduces nutrient pollution.

Our production model (renovating old biomass power plants in high fire hazard areas) can be scaled up quickly and efficiently, compost yards and farms across California are using biochar in their practices, and there’s a growing team of academia and government folks working on research and policy towards this.

The support of Wren members like you will help take Pacific Biochar to the next level, where we aren't just operating one facility, but several– all across the state. Thanks again for your support, and I'm excited to update you on our progress!"

Josiah Hunt

Founder, Pacific Biochar