Biochar-Driven Circular Bioeconomy in South Africa: Waste Valorization for Climate and Socioeconomic Resilience

Growing evidence highlights environmental, economic, and societal challenges of fossil-based linear economies, driving the search for solutions aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The circular bioeconomy has emerged as a key, rapidly expanding approach to advance the SDGs, particularly in emerging nations like South Africa, where progress remains slow. This review critically examines the socioeconomic opportunities for integrating biochar into South Africa’s waste-to-resource systems and proposes a strategy for its widespread adoption. The study adopts a structured literature review approach, involving systematic identification, screening, and qualitative analysis of peer-reviewed articles and policy documents, guided by predefined inclusion criteria and thematic analysis. The work further elucidates regional feedstock availability, regulatory policies, and pilot-scale implementations. Our findings emphasize biochar’s dual function in tackling climate change (carbon sequestration potential: 0.5 – 3 t CO 2 -eq/t biochar) and reducing unemployment (with an expected creation of 5,000 green jobs by 2030), providing a framework for other developing economies aiming to adopt a similar bioeconomy approach.