Mapping Biochar Carbon Removal Projects Across the US and EuropeContact person if you have any questions: Anna Grether, ETH Zurich (
agrether@student.ethz.ch); supervisor Dr. Leland Werden (
lwerden@ethz.ch)
Data Protection Officer ETH Zurich: Tomislav Mitar (
tomislav.mitar@sl.ethz.ch)
We would like to ask you if you are willing to participate in our research project. Your participation is voluntary. Please read the text below carefully and ask the conducting person about anything you do not understand or would like to know.
What is investigated and how?
This study examines how policy and regulatory conditions shape the development of biochar carbon-removal (CDR) projects in Europe and the US. You will answer questions about your project and rate the barriers, revenue dynamics, and policy conditions affecting it. The survey takes approximately 10–15 minutes. At the end you may optionally provide an email address to be contacted for a follow-up interview and/or to receive the results; this email is stored separately and is not linked to your responses. You may also optionally provide your project's registry-listing URL so we can link your responses to public project data; this is stored separately, used only for matching, removed before analysis, and never reported for an individual project.
Who can participate?
Owners or developers of a biochar CDR project located in Europe or the US that is listed, registered, verified, issuing credits, or intending to seek certification under a carbon registry.
What am I supposed to do as a participant?
Complete the online questionnaire (~10–15 minutes)
What are my rights during participation?
Your participation is voluntary. You can withdraw at any time without giving reasons and without any disadvantage.
What risks and benefits can I expect?
There are no physical risks. Because this is a small, specialized population, we report all financial information only in aggregate or banded form and never name any company or individual. The benefit is a clearer, developer-grounded understanding of the policy conditions affecting biochar CDR.
Will I be compensated for my participation?
No compensation will be provided for your participation.
What data is collected from me and how is it used?
Your survey responses are collected anonymously; you are not asked to provide personal data within the survey. Your responses about your projects and experience in the sector will be used to map and analyze the barriers, financing strategies, and policy conditions affecting biochar CDR projects in Europe and the US - the core research data for this study.
Any e-mail or registry-listing URL you choose to provide is used only for the stated purpose - an e-mail to contact you for a follow-up interview and/or to send you the results, and a registry-listing URL to link your responses to publicly available information about your project for analysis, and is stored separately from your responses on a secure ETH server (polybox), accessible only to the research team, and deleted after five years.
The survey runs on Tally, an EU-based platform that stores submission data in the EU (Belgium), encrypted, under a data-processing agreement. For European participants, processing follows the GDPR; you may request access, rectification, or erasure of any personal data you provide. Your raw responses are accessible only to the ETH researchers administering the survey and are not shared with any third parties. Anonymized data may be published for further use (e.g., in a scientific data repository), with no conclusions drawn about individual responses.
Who is funding the study?The project has no dedicated external funding; the supervising researcher (Dr. Leland Werden) is supported by DOB Ecology.
Who reviewed the study?This study was reviewed and approved by the ETH Zurich Ethics Committee under application number 26 ETHICS-241.
Complaints officeThe secretariat of the ETH Zurich Ethics Committee is available to help you with complaints in connection with your participation in the study. Contact:
ethics@sl.ethz.ch or 0041 44 632 85 72.
By selecting “I consent" below you confirm the following:
• I have read and understood the study information.
• I had enough time to decide about my participation and am taking part in the study voluntarily.
• I fulfil the stated conditions for participation.
• I consent that the data described above may be collected from me and used as described.
• I know that the data collected from me may be published in anonymised form.
• I know that I can cancel my participation any time.
