The flagship
A refugee-led carbon removal enterprise
Since 2022, refugee farmers in Nakivale have made biochar from forestry waste with partners in the US and UK. It goes into their fields, their water filters, and a growing carbon-credit pathway.
Biochar is made in Nakivale by burning forestry waste with very little oxygen, then quenching it with water. Unlike charcoal, which releases its carbon when burned as fuel, biochar keeps its carbon stable in the soil for hundreds of years. In fields it holds water and nutrients. It also works as a filter bed for water treatment, and because the locked-away carbon can be measured and verified, it can be sold as carbon-removal credits.
UK partner BionerG supplies the standardized kilns and measuring instruments, trains the team, arranges delivery of forestry waste as quality biomass, and built, tested and funded the community-sized water treatment plant. Carbon-credit returns are meant to cover the enterprise’s overheads and wages. Production is run entirely by an accredited refugee team, with kilns instrumented for the data carbon markets require.
Track record
2022 to today
- 2022
An international team forms to turn Nakivale’s farm waste into biochar and earn carbon revenue for the community.
- 2023
Online training by BionerG begins in April. In August, the first three kilns are installed, instrumented with sensors and data measurement from day one.
- 2024
In September, seven refugees are awarded biochar manufacturing accreditation.
- 2025
The manufacturing team is certified to train others. On seed-bank fields amended with our locally-produced biochar, bean yields double.
- 2026
Five kilns in operation, two of them funded by BionerG, each producing around a tonne of biochar a week for soil, water filters, and carbon credits.
The partners
UCF partners in the US and UK
OpenAir Collective · USA
Volunteer carbon-removal network, with organizer Chris Neidl part of the founding 2022 team. Its first campaign crowdfunded the original three kilns.
BionerG Ltd · UK
Biochar and water-plant engineering led by Lionel Clarke OBE and Chris Clarke. The water treatment plant was fully funded by Mary Clarke.
EcoTradeZone · UK
Carbon-credit pathway for the kilns’ sequestered carbon: a blockchain-based platform linking biochar producers directly to carbon markets. Developed by BionerG, independently audited to ISO 14064, and accessed via C-Go.com.
Where the biochar goes
Soil, water, and carbon
Soil
Applied to seed-bank fields in 2025, biochar doubled bean yields. 242 farmers across 7 villages are in the wider seed and soil program (Oct 2024).
Agriculture & seed bankWater
Our biochar forms the final filter bed in BionerG’s water treatment plants. The first-phase plant serves thousands of households a day, its water tested against WHO drinking-water guidelines.
The safe water campaignCarbon
Sensor-verified sequestration, sold through EcoTradeZone on the C-Go platform built with BionerG. The first small packages have been sold, with steady sales expected as the audit-to-market pipeline matures. Revenue already helps fund the production team and will in time sustain the water treatment plant.
Buy credits or partner
The farmers behind it
More than 72 farmers apply locally produced biochar on their land (as of 2026), within a wider seed-and-soil program of 242 farmers across 7 villages (Oct 2024).
Seven team members hold manufacturing accreditation, and since 2025 they certify new trainers themselves, so the skills stay in the settlement. The team also offers online biochar-manufacturing training to outside agricultural and carbon-market producers.