IESGA and POSCO International to Study Biochar Carbon Storage in Palm Plantations

The International ESG Association and POSCO International have signed a memorandum of understanding to research how biochar, a carbon-rich soil additive, can reduce emissions and store carbon in large-scale palm plantations. The agreement, signed 23 June 2026 at the POSCO Center in Seoul, will focus on plantations operated by Indonesian palm company PT.PAR and aims to build what the partners call a Carbon Mapping system quantifying soil carbon storage capacity and greenhouse gas characteristics across different soil types. The project is led by Professor Yong Sik Ok, director of the Korea Biochar Research Center at Korea University, and Professor Jay Hyuk Rhee, president of Korea University's ESG Institute.

 

What Biochar Actually Does

 

Biochar is a charcoal-like material produced by heating organic matter, such as agricultural waste, in a low-oxygen environment, a process that locks carbon into a stable form resistant to decomposition. When added to soil, biochar can store that carbon for extended periods, effectively turning agricultural land into a long-term carbon reservoir rather than a source of ongoing emissions, while research has also linked it to improvements in soil fertility and water retention in some applications.

That framing positions soil not merely as a growing medium but as an asset whose carbon behaviour can be actively managed. Professor Ok described soil as one of the largest carbon reservoirs on the planet, capable of functioning as either an emissions source or a carbon sink depending on how it is managed, which is the underlying scientific premise the research project is designed to test and quantify.

 

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Why Palm Plantations Are the Research Focus

 

Palm cultivation has drawn significant environmental scrutiny globally, particularly where plantation expansion has driven deforestation and the drainage of carbon-rich peatland, both of which release substantial stored carbon into the atmosphere. Testing biochar application specifically within an operating palm plantation therefore targets a crop and land-use type where the carbon stakes, and the potential emissions reduction opportunity, are already well established, rather than starting the research in a less contentious agricultural context.

The Carbon Mapping component of the project is the methodological foundation the partners intend to build before any large-scale biochar application follows. By analysing soil properties across the plantation to identify where biochar would be most effective, the researchers are aiming to move from a general scientific principle, that biochar can store carbon in soil, toward a site-specific, evidence-based deployment plan rather than blanket application without knowing where the carbon benefit would be greatest.

 

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From Research Demonstration to Potential Commercial Application

 

The partners describe the project as a large-scale field demonstration, language that signals this is a research and validation exercise rather than a commercial rollout, though the stated ambition extends further. Beyond assessing carbon-reduction effects and expanding the scope of application, the researchers say they will examine possibilities for connecting the work to a carbon-credit business, suggesting the eventual goal is to generate verifiable, tradeable emissions reductions rather than simply a scientific finding.

Professor Rhee framed the collaboration as validating soil carbon and biochar research at commercial scale and translating it into actionable industrial solutions, positioning the work explicitly as a bridge from academic research to a business mechanism. For POSCO International, the project sits alongside the wider POSCO Group's development of low-carbon steelmaking technology and the company's own renewable energy and biomass initiatives, extending its decarbonisation efforts into agricultural land management rather than confining them to industrial processes. Whether the Carbon Mapping methodology yields results robust enough to support a genuine carbon-credit business, and whether biochar application proves effective and economically viable at the scale of a commercial palm plantation, will determine whether this research collaboration produces a replicable model or remains a single demonstration project.