Queensland soil stabilisation and revegetation company Vital Chemical is marking World Soil Day (Friday, December 5) with a celebration of biochar as a soil and revegetation amendment for environmental restoration.
World Soil Day is a global initiative established by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. It aims to raise awareness of the vital importance of soil in sustaining life on Earth.
Healthy soil underpins food security, biodiversity, water regulation, and carbon storage. Yet worldwide, soils are being degraded through erosion, contamination, nutrient loss, and compaction.
With its exceptional ability to rebuild degraded soils, enhance plant growth, and lock away carbon for centuries, biochar is increasingly recognised as a critical solution for industries working to restore and protect the environment.
“This World Soil Day, we’re celebrating the remarkable potential of biochar to transform and restore carbon depleted soils.” said Letiscia Xavier, Chief Scientist and Director at Vital Chemical.
“Biochar is not simply just another soil amendment. It is a carbon matrix that strengthens the physical, chemical, and biological foundation of soils and builds a healthier and more sustainable environment.”
The Science Behind Biochar
Biochar is created through the controlled pyrolysis of organic biomass, resulting in a stable, carbon-rich material dramatically boosting soil health and performance.
Research shows that high-quality biochar can increase soil water-holding capacity by 20–40 percent, making it particularly valuable in Australia’s hot, dry climates and in disturbed soils that struggle to retain moisture.
Biochar also significantly improves nutrient retention. Its high cation exchange capacity allows soils to hold essential nutrients such as potassium, calcium, magnesium, and ammonium.
This increased nutrient availability enhances root development and accelerates revegetation, especially in soils impacted by mining, civil construction and agriculture.
Perhaps most importantly, biochar provides long-term soil carbon sequestration. While organic matter often decomposes and releases carbon both into the soil and detrimentally into the atmosphere within months or years, biochar embeds carbon ensuring its stability for up to hundreds or even thousands of years, supporting decarbonization efforts and helping to slow global warming.
Vital Chemical has integrated biochar into a suite of soil rehabilitation and revegetation products designed to operate in highly disturbed or degraded environments. Vital Biochar is engineered to maximise soil improvement, microbial activity, and water retention, offering a powerful foundation for landscape recovery.
Incorporating a proprietary blend of Vital Biochar, VE Char-Matt supports healthy and sustained root structure development and carbon boosted erosion control. In severely nutrient depleted soils, VE Organic-Matt’s carbon building properties restores and increases soil organic matter, delivering erosion protection alongside long-term soil enhancement.
Vital Biochar employed within these products provides microbiomes that encourage and improves soil biology, resulting in stronger and more sustainable plant establishment.
“Biochar microbiomes enhance root systems for beneficial vegetation growth and establishment,” Ms Xavier said. “The role played by biochar amendments supports healthier soil ecosystems, improves resilience to drought shifts carbon from potential atmospheric fate accelerates the natural regeneration of disturbed land.”
As industries across Australia seek solutions that align with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) commitments, biochar-based technologies are emerging as a powerful, practical and sustainable solution.
Biochar not only supports revegetation but also contributes to broader landscape resilience by improving microbiodiversity and supporting long-term ecological function.
“Healthy soil is the foundation of healthy landscapes,” Ms Xavier said. “By embracing the use of biochar, we are not only enriching soil, we are shaping a future where land can be restored to be more resilient, ecosystems more stable, and where carbon is returned to the soil where it belongs.”
