Hope for the Ash Tree – A novel application of biochar for UK woodlands

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Earthly Biochar is a UK biochar supplier, committed to combating climate change through making high-performance, sustainable products accessible at affordable prices. Since its launch in 2018, it's been starting conversations about a powerful soil amendment which has, until recently, been somewhat overlooked by science and horticulture. To date, the company has helped hundreds of domestic gardeners and land managers to make the transition from using harmful chemical products in their soil to investing in more effective, long-term solutions friendly to both plants and the planet.Earthly is the leading biochar startup in the UK. Earthly developed the first domestic biochar kiln on the market and is the only biochar supplier in the UK able to deliver biochar and the associated carbon credits. The company has conducted the largest commercial trials of biochar in the UK and has implemented biochar on farms, local authority parks and professional nurseries. Earthly has a long-standing relationship with the KTN and has won multiple small grants. The team has won public funding from Innovate UK through the Young Innovators Award and the Next Steps follow on funding. They are research led and on a mission to scale biochar as an accessible form of carbon capture.The founders of Earthly have applied for the Design Foundations Competition to take forward a new product concept. The project will turn a novel biochar product idea into a tested minimum viable product, ready for commercialisation and funding. The product aims to support disease resilience to a fast-spreading fungal infection which could see the irreversible loss of tree species in the UK. At scale, the solution will support academic research, potentially conserve a species, and independently fund the production of biochar as a verified form of carbon capture and storage.Tackling the climate emergency is at the heart of Earthly Biochar and Lottie believes it can be the solution: 'The recent IPCC report says we have 8 years until the worst of climate change is irreversible. Biochar is one of the many solutions to the greatest threat humanity has ever faced. What gives me hope is that biochar has so many other benefits, along with carbon capture and storage, that it shouldn't be too hard to make this a reality. I hope my work inspires others to pick another solution to climate change and bring it to its full potential before it's too late.'