Biochar Between Nature and Circular Economy: The Case Study of an Abandoned Rural Site, Borgo Perolla, in Tuscany, Italy

The transition towards circular economy represents now a key strategy to address the environmental issues we are facing. Within this framework, biochar, a carbon reach material [1] derived from the residual agricultural pyrolysis can represent a sustainable and circular solution. This paper aims at evaluating the possibility of implementing a local biochar production system as part of an economic and social strategy of redevel-opment of an abandoned rural site, Borgo Perolla, in Tuscany, Italy. A cost-benefits analysis (CBA) was conducted to evaluate the economic feasibility of three different scenarios of production and strategies. For each scenario, three indicators were calculated: Net-Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and Breakeven point (BEP). The most evident result that emerged is that the sale of biochar and its by-products alone is not sufficient to ensure the project’s economic sustainability, mainly due to high production costs. Only through carbon credit trading markets bio-char becomes not only an environmentally strategic tool but also an economically re-warding one. In this sense, market infrastructures such as the ETS are essential for the dissemination of circular models, like the biochar, that generate both environmental and economic benefits.