The 3rd Asia Pacific Biochar Conference (APBC 2016): A Shifting Paradigm towards Advanced Materials and Energy/Environment Research was successfully held on October 19–23, 2016, in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, the Republic of Korea. This conference provided well-designed opportunities for participants to present their work to make professional collaboration, following the first and second APBCs that were successfully held on the Gold Coast, Australia (May 17–20, 2009) and Kyoto, Japan (September 15–18, 2011), respectively.

In the past decade, biochar has been used in a wide range of applications from soil fertility improvement to being used as industrial materials. Initial interest in biochar was to use it as a means to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. However, recent developments have seen biochar being applied in engineering, health care, and life sciences; some of those applications have a great potential for rapid commercialization. The APBC 2016 was devoted to the expectation of a paradigm shift towards the development of the next generation of biochar with applications in a range of new fields.

A number of special symposia were held during the APBC 2016 conference, including Persistence of Biochar and Its Effects on Soil Organic Matter, Biochar and Nutrient Dynamics in Soil, Biochar in Soil Remediation, Emerging Pollutants and Biochar Interactions, Effects of Biochar on Soil Biota and Soil Functioning, Biochar in Mined Environments: Remediation and Phytostabilization of Mine Wastes, Biochar Production from and Application for Wastewater Treatment, and Biochar as a New Adsorbent. The APBC 2016 conference attracted more than 350 participants from over 30 countries. This special issue of ESPR is a collection of selected contributions from the APBC 2016 conference participants, and is published after a stringent peer-review process. The special issue mainly covers topics related to the environmental functions of biochar.

As Guest Editors, we would like to thank the authors, reviewers, and fellow ESPR editors and editorial assistants for their hard work and contribution to this special issue. We would also like to thank Prof. Philippe Garrigues, the Editor-in-Chief of ESPR, for his kind invitation to publish this special issue in ESPR.