Kenyan Biochar Project Becomes First in Africa Validated Under European Carbon Standard

By Chemtai Kirui
KISUMU, Kenya, Jul 22 2025 – In June 2025, Kenyan climate-tech firm Tera became the first African project developer to have its carbon removal initiative independently validated and registered under Riverse, a European standard for engineered climate solutions.

The validation confirms that Tera’s project design and digital monitoring framework meet Riverse’s strict scientific criteria—making it eligible to issue carbon credits once verified.

The project is now listed on Riverse’s public-facing Rainbow Registry, which provides transparent documentation of validated projects and will track credits through issuance and retirement.

Tera collects bagasse—the dry, fibrous material left after sugarcane is crushed—from mills around Kisumu, Kenya’s third-largest city in the Lake Victoria basin, known for its sugarcane farms and factories.

At its pilot facility, the sugarcane waste is fed into a pyrolysis unit, a specialized machine that heats the material in the absence of oxygen to produce biochar, a porous, carbon-rich substance.

When applied to soil, biochar helps the ground retain water and nutrients, boosting crop health while locking carbon in place so it cannot escape back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO₂), according to Dr. Eng. Erick Kiplangat Ronoh, a biosystems and environmental engineering expert at Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

“Unlike ordinary plant waste that decomposes and releases carbon, biochar stabilizes it in a form that can remain in soils for extended periods,” Ronoh said.

It is often described as turning agricultural residues into a ‘sponge’ that improves water retention, soil fertility, and long-term carbon storage.

Tera blends biochar into organic fertilizer sold to farmers across the region, aiming to improve harvests and restore degraded soils while creating the basis for carbon credit generation.

“We are bringing the soil back to life,” said Rob Palmer, Tera’s CEO. “Biochar improves yields, reduces dependence on inorganic fertilizers, and boosts drought resilience. But for us to scale up, we needed to prove the science—which is what validation under Riverse provides.”

Palmer described the validation as “a crucial step,” enabled by Tera’s tracking system, which monitors every stage from bagasse collection to biochar application.

Tera did not work alone. To ensure carbon savings are measurable and verifiable, it partnered with another Kenyan company, CYNK—a technology firm that builds digital systems for environmental data tracking—to design a custom Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) system that tracks and documents carbon removal data at every stage.

CYNK’s system uses internet-of-things (IoT) sensors and real-time dashboards to create an auditable, tamper-resistant record of the entire process—from weighing biomass to monitoring pyrolysis temperatures and mapping where biochar is applied.

“That level of detail is essential for full traceability,” said Kelvin Gitahi, CYNK’s head of technology.

Gitahi said traditional carbon credit systems often relied on paperwork and spreadsheets to prove the credits they claimed, making auditing difficult.

“Registries typically want evidence of what you produced and where it was applied,” he said. “Historically, it meant assembling files manually. That lack of automation made trust hard to build.”

By contrast, CYNK’s automated system converts sensor readings and spatial data into quantifiable carbon removal estimates, minimizing human error and enabling independent audits.

“It’s designed to be tamper-proof,” Gitahi said. “From the weighbridge measuring truckloads of bagasse to the exact kilos of biochar applied, everything is logged automatically.”

It’s evidence-based and traceable—“so there’s no cooking the books,” as he put it.

Such rigorous monitoring is essential under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which requires transparent, robust MRV to prevent double-counting in international carbon markets.

Riverse, one of 13 global standards endorsed by ICROA, the voluntary carbon market’s main accreditation body, said Tera is the first project it has certified that can scientifically demonstrate its biochar will keep carbon stable for many years.

“Tera had to meet twelve criteria,” said Samara Vantil, Riverse’s certification operations lead. “That included demonstrating full traceability, using only waste biomass, and proving the project was financially additional.”

Each year, more than 20 data points are reviewed to confirm ongoing compliance.

Validation under Riverse generally takes two to three months, with projects subject to annual audits for at least five years and periodic reassessment to remain listed.

Riverse also operates a public platform disclosing project-level data—from feedstock sourcing to credit issuance—in an effort to address transparency concerns in the voluntary carbon market (VCM), where companies and organizations purchase credits to offset emissions outside regulated compliance schemes.

Such scrutiny is seen as vital as Europe looks to source more carbon removals from Africa

A recent European Union proposal includes possible allowances for member states to use “high-quality international credits” to offset hard-to-abate emissions starting in the mid-2030s. If adopted, it could significantly boost demand for rigorously verified projects like Tera’s, which remain rare on the continent.

“Kenya is an emerging hotspot for carbon removal in Africa,” said Ludovic Chatoux, co-founder and CEO of Riverse. “Its renewable electricity mix, reliable feedstock supply, and supportive policies make it attractive for engineered carbon removal.”

That policy environment includes Kenya’s Carbon Credit Trading and Benefit Sharing Bill, which establishes a body to manage carbon trading and benefit-sharing, and the Climate Change Act, which provides a legal framework for carbon markets.

The Climate Change (Carbon Markets) Regulations, 2024, further detail the mechanics of registration, certification, and the creation of a National Carbon Registry.

Diagram showing how the DMRV system developed by Kenyan firm CYNK tracks Tera’s biochar production from bagasse to farm application.

Chatoux said Riverse is also assessing projects in Nigeria and Ghana, reflecting what he called a “bullish outlook” for the region.

He added that Riverse’s goal is to channel financing into projects that demonstrably remove or avoid CO₂, arguing that greater transparency is needed to counter greenwashing in the voluntary market.

Globally, engineered carbon removal credits—such as biochar or direct air capture—command significantly higher prices than most nature-based offsets.

Data from tracking platforms CDR.fyi and Puro.earth show that in 2024, engineered removals averaged around USD 320 per tonne, with biochar trading at roughly USD 140 by mid-2025.

By contrast, even high-quality forestry credits typically fetched USD 8 to USD 15.

This price gap reflects the greater durability and auditability of engineered removals,” said Dr. Ronoh.

Unlike trees, which can lose stored carbon to fires, pests, or logging, biochar locks carbon in soils and is designed to keep it stable for hundreds to thousands of years.

Still, he cautioned that although biochar is widely regarded as a promising climate solution, its benefits depend on strict quality controls and sustainable production.

“If the biomass is contaminated, it can introduce heavy metals or toxins into the soil,” Dr. Ronoh said. “And if it’s applied in excess or made without standardized methods, biochar can harm soil structure and nutrient uptake.”

Despite global efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, atmospheric concentrations continue to rise—especially carbon dioxide, the primary driver of human-induced climate change.

According to the World Meteorological Organization, CO₂ levels are now more than 50% above pre-industrial concentrations, setting yet another record high. This has heightened calls for permanent carbon removal to complement emissions cuts.

Agricultural carbon removal strategies, once considered marginal in climate policy, are gaining recognition as essential complements to emissions reductions, especially in sectors that are hard to decarbonize.

This shift is underscored in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) AR6 Working Group III report (2022) and analysis by Carbon Direct, which emphasize that achieving the 1.5°C target will require not only deep emissions cuts but also large-scale deployment of carbon dioxide removal (CDR), including land-based approaches like biochar.

In Kenya and the wider region, there is growing momentum to help farmers both adapt to climate change through climate-smart practices and mitigate it through carbon farming techniques.

Peter Wachira, regional advisor for carbon projects at Vi Agroforestry—a nonprofit that promotes sustainable land use through initiatives like the Kenya Agricultural Carbon Project (KACP)—said these approaches offer significant climate and economic benefits.

“By adopting sustainable techniques such as composting, agroforestry, and agricultural waste recycling, farmers can sequester carbon, improve food security, and raise household incomes,” Wachira said.

But he cautioned that carbon credit schemes must be designed to serve those doing the work.

“The carbon market must first and foremost improve farmers’ livelihoods,” he said. “And we cannot forget—emissions reductions must remain the responsibility of the Global North. Communities here are paying the price for a crisis they didn’t create.”

Kenya’s carbon market debates have also evolved—from initial resistance over fears of enabling continued pollution to ongoing discussions about ensuring transparency, robust credit verification, and equitable benefit-sharing with local communities.

Gitahi said Kenya has demonstrated it can deliver the kind of credible, transparent systems the world is demanding.

“Kenya is offering what the global market needs. It’s proof that projects here can be validated to global standards,” he said. “Our digital transparency shows the strength of local technological capacity, the local expertise, and how communities are willing to engage and give feedback.”

He added that it is rare to see all these players—from governments creating policies to communities shaping projects and investors showing trust—working together.

“It just shows Kenya is now ready for this,” he said.

For Tera, the challenge is now building on that readiness and scaling its model across the continent.

“There’s not a rulebook for America and a different rulebook for Africa,” said Palmer. “What we have proven is that an African carbon project can meet the same global standards. Now that we have a way to prove our model works—that it’s not limited by feedstock, site, or demand—we just need the capital to scale it.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?’http’:’https’;if(!d.getElementById({js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+’://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js’;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, ‘script’, ‘twitter-wjs’);