How chocolate could counter climate change

HAMBURG, Germany—At a redbrick factory in the German port city of Hamburg, cocoa bean shells go in one end, and out the other comes an amazing black powder with the potential to counter climate change.

The substance, dubbed biochar, is produced by heating the cocoa husks in an oxygen-free room to 600 degrees Celsius (1,112 Fahrenheit).

The process locks in greenhouse gases and the final product can be used as a fertilizer, or as an ingredient in the production of “green” concrete.

While the biochar industry is still in its infancy, the technology offers a novel way to remove carbon from the Earth’s atmosphere, experts say.

According to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), biochar could potentially be used to capture 2.6 billion of the 40 billion tons of CO2 currently produced by humanity each year.

But scaling up its use remains a challenge.

“We are reversing the carbon cycle,” Peik Stenlund, CEO of Circular Carbon, told AFP at the biochar factory in Hamburg.

The plant, one of the largest in Europe, takes delivery of the used cocoa shells via a network of grey pipes from a neighboring chocolate factory.

The biochar traps the CO2 contained in the husks -- in a process that could be used for any other plant. If the cocoa shells were disposed of as normal, the carbon inside the unused byproduct would be released into the atmosphere as it decomposed.

Instead, the carbon is sequestered in the biochar “for centuries”, according

Peik transport bags for cocoa shells in Hamburg, on May 10, 2023. At a red-brick factory in Hamburg, cocoa bean shells go in one end, and out the other comes a black powder with the unusual potential to counter climate change. AFP to David Houben, an environmental scientist at the UniLaSalle institute in France. One ton of biochar—or bio coal —can stock “the equivalent of 2.5 to three tons of CO2”, Houben told AFP.

Biochar was already used by indigenous populations in the Americas as a fertilizer before being rediscovered in the 20th century by scientists researching extremely fecund soils in the Amazon basin.

The surprising substance’s sponge-like structure boosts crops by increasing the absorption of water and nutrients by the soil.

In Hamburg, the factory is wrapped in the faint smell of chocolate and warmed by the heat given of by the installation’s pipework.

The final product is poured into white sacks to be sold to local farmers in granule form.

One of those farmers is Silvio Schmidt, 45, who grows potatoes near Bremen, west of Hamburg.

Schmidt hopes the biochar will help “give more nutrients and water” to his sandy soils. The production process, called pyrolysis, also produces a certain volume of biogas, which is resold to the neighboring factory. In all, 3,500 tons of biochar and “up to 20 megawatt hours” of gas are produced by the plant each year from 10,000 tons of cocoa shells.

The production method nonetheless remains difficult to scale up to the level imagined by the IPCC. AFP nor Amir Hossein Zamaninia told AFP on Saturday, adding that all options still remained “on the table” for Sunday’s gathering.

Recession fears

Oil prices have plummeted by about 10 percent since the April cuts were announced, with Brent crude falling close to $70 a barrel, a level it has not traded below since December 2021.

Traders worry that demand will slump, with concerns about the health of the global economy as the United States battles inflation with higher interest rates and China’s post-Covid rebound stutters.

On arriving in Vienna, where OPEC is headquartered, Emirati energy minister Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei said he expected the outcome of Sunday’s ministerial meeting to”balance the market and ensure we are ready for any challenges in the future.” AFP eral Reserve to suppress demand and bring down high inflation.

The passage of a debt limit deal through both houses of Congress appears to have eased market fears of a debt default as well, with Wall Street’s “fear gauge” sinking to its lowest level since before the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The Senate swiftly approved the new debt ceiling deal in the US prompting relief in the markets,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

“A bigger bounce might have been forthcoming had investors not already been very much factoring in an agreement, with only a modest sell-off around the crisis,” he said. With AFP

Biden signs debt ceiling bill into law to prevent default

WASHINGTON, USA—US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a debt ceiling bill passed by Congress after weeks of wrangling, moving to avert a catastrophic, self-induced default in the world’s biggest economy. The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 authorizes the government to extend the so-called debt ceiling to renew borrowing, keeping the bills paid.

The Treasury had warned that if the debt ceiling was blocked beyond Monday, the country would default on its $31 trillion debt. A default would have likely triggered market panic, huge job losses, and a recession, with global implications.

In a statement Saturday, the White House thanked the Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress “for their partnership.”

In a rare Oval Office address late Friday, Biden said that the debt ceiling bill saved the country from “economic collapse.”

Speaking from behind the historic Resolute Desk on live primetime television, Biden said the deal resolving the standoff between Democrats and Republicans was a compromise where “no one got everything they wanted.”

However, “we averted an economic crisis,” he said. Oval Office addresses have always been reserved by presidents for moments of unique national danger or importance.

Biden used the occasion to project a reassuring, calm tone. Sprinkling his speech with chuckles and smiles, he praised his opponents for negotiating in good faith and promised Americans that he had never felt more optimistic.

Biden said that Congress has now preserved “the full faith and credit of the United States.”

But even with the House and Senate putting aside differences to finally rush through the agreement over the last week, the US economy’s reputation took a hit. AFP on or before 5:00 p.m. on June 20, 2023. The identities of those registering to participate online will be going through a process of verification, after which an email from the Company will be sent to them giving instructions as to how they will be able to watch the livestream of the annual stockholders’ meeting. Please see Guidelines for Participating by Remote Communication and Voting in Absentia

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For corporate stockholders, the proxies should be accompanied by a Secretary’s Certification on the appointment of the corporation’s authorized signatory.

(ii) by registering your votes on the matters to be taken up during the meeting through the e-voting platform set up for the purpose which can be accessed at https://www.abrown.ph/asmevoting2023/. The e-voting portal will be open until 12:00 noon of June 30, 2023.

Validation of proxies is set on June 21, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. The votes already cast using the e-voting platform by that time will also be verified on said date.

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