October 30 2026
Abhijeet Shrivastava: New Jersey-based Microsoft professional connecting art, biochar and climate action
(Oct 30, 2026) New Jersey-based Microsoft professional and artist Abhijeet Shrivastava is bringing art and climate action together, using biochar, a carbon-rich material made by heating crop waste with limited oxygen, as a painting pigment. Through his project The Carbon Art, he connects his paintings to carbon removal and soil restoration on farms. He has exhibited his work at significant platforms including Climate Week NYC 2026, while his artwork Cities and Climate Change was selected for the Fifth National Climate Assessment by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
What if a painting could do more than tell a story about climate change, with the very material used to create it also contributing to climate action?
For Abhijeet, the idea grew from the intersection of two long-standing interests. He had worked with charcoal and wood ash in his studio for years, while his professional work in climate and sustainability deepened his interest in carbon removal and the materials that can store carbon. Discovering biochar brought these two worlds together, allowing him to transform a material with an environmental purpose into an artistic medium.
“I didn’t want the paintings to just show the climate crisis. I wanted them to be part of doing something about it,” he tells The Global Indian.
Biochar, the charcoal is produced when crop waste is heated instead of burned in the open. It locks carbon away for centuries, and when it goes back into farm soil it helps hold water and nutrients. Some of the biochar connected to my work is applied on smallholder farms in India, and each painting carries a Certificate of Impact tracing that path.
Abhijeet Shrivastava
View this post on Instagram
Rather than simply depicting the climate crisis, Abhijeet wants his work to connect with tangible action beyond the canvas. By bringing art and carbon removal together, he aims to make a complex climate solution more visible and accessible to people.
Finding expression in black and white
Born in Jabalpur and raised in Bhopal, Abhijeet developed an interest in art early in life. Sketching became central to his practice, with monochrome work offering the form of expression he was most drawn to.
Black is not the absence of colour but it actually holds all colours within itself. While vibrant colours can often be used to mask or distract from raw emotions, black and white demands complete truth and honesty; there is nowhere to hide on the canvas.”
Abhijeet Shrivastava
This philosophy shaped his early work and led to his first solo exhibition, Black is Beautiful, in Jabalpur. The exhibition marked an early milestone in an artistic practice that would continue alongside his professional career.
Abhijeet went on to study architecture at Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT), formerly known as NIT Bhopal. He later earned a master’s degree in architecture and urban design from Columbia University in New York.
His education and professional experience brought him into closer contact with the built environment, urban development and sustainability. Over time, these interests also found their way into his art.
From charcoal to biochar
Abhijeet had been working with raw charcoal and wood ash in his studio for years before encountering biochar through his professional engagement with climate and sustainability. As he learnt more about carbon removal and materials that can store carbon, biochar stood out for its potential to connect an environmental process with something tangible.
Carbon capture can feel abstract, invisible, and data-heavy to the general public. I realized I could use biochar directly as an artistic pigment, transforming a technical climate solution into a tangible, visual medium.
Abhijeet Shrivastava
Using biochar allowed him to work with a material that carried a climate-related purpose beyond its appearance on the canvas. It also offered a way to make an otherwise difficult-to-see process more accessible through art.
Biochar is produced by heating biomass, such as crop waste, under controlled conditions with limited oxygen. It can store carbon in a relatively stable form, while its effects on soil depend on factors such as the feedstock, production process, soil conditions and method of application.
For Abhijeet, discovering biochar brought together his professional interest in carbon removal and his long-standing artistic practice. It became more than a pigment, offering a way to connect his paintings with broader questions of carbon storage, agriculture and climate resilience.
Connecting paintings with farms through The Carbon Art
Through The Carbon Art project, Abhijeet aims to make each artwork meaningful beyond the canvas. The project connects the use of biochar in his paintings with its application in agricultural settings.
He collaborates with partners including 2Dot0 Farms in India and PlantVillage+, a Penn State-founded cooperative dedicated to empowering smallholder farmers with climate-smart agriculture, with work spanning the United States and Kenya.
Through these partnerships, biochar connected to the project is supplied and applied to farmland, including smallholder farms in India. The aim is to support soil health and help farmers manage challenges such as water stress. The results depend on local soil conditions, the properties of the biochar and how it is applied.
Each painting comes with a Certificate of Impact documenting the production batch, the volume of carbon sequestered and the farming community where the associated biochar was applied. This documentation is intended to make the process traceable, giving buyers a clearer understanding of the material’s journey beyond the studio.
The model brings together artistic expression and practical climate work. A painting can invite people to engage with an environmental issue, while its accompanying documentation connects it to a specific process involving carbon storage and agricultural use.
When art enters the climate conversation
One of Abhijeet’s significant milestones came in 2022, when his artwork Cities and Climate Change was selected for the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5). The work illustrates Chapter 12, which examines the built environment, urban systems and cities.
The National Climate Assessment is a major US government scientific report evaluating climate change and its effects across the country. It is produced by the US Global Change Research Program and overseen by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
The artwork ‘Cities and Climate Change’ by Abhijeet Shrivastava was selected for NCA5, the US government scientific report evaluating climate change
Having my artwork selected to represent critical urban climate vulnerabilities within such an influential federal scientific document was an incredible milestone for bridging fine art and rigorous climate policy.
Abhijeet Shrivastava
His work has also been shown at the Oculus in Manhattan and during Climate Week NYC 2026, an annual gathering focused on climate action. These platforms have brought his art to audiences engaging with sustainability and the climate challenge.
For Abhijeet, such opportunities demonstrate how visual art can contribute to conversations that often rely on scientific data, policy documents and technical explanations. An artwork does not replace that information, but it can offer people another way to approach it.
From climate consulting to Microsoft’s infrastructure work
Alongside his art, Abhijeet has built a career spanning climate change, environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations, decarbonisation and sustainable infrastructure.
His earlier consulting work involved collaborating with public- and private-sector clients on sustainability, climate resilience and infrastructure-related challenges. This experience helped him understand how environmental concerns intersect with planning, development and decisions about the built environment.
Today, he works as a Land Development Program Manager at Microsoft. His role involves programmes supporting infrastructure development, bringing together programme management, stakeholder coordination, risk mitigation and environmental considerations.
Abhijeet is also associated with professional organisations including UN-Habitat’s Planners for Climate Action, the American Planning Association, the International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP) and the Council of Architecture in India.
These professional interests and his artistic practice share a concern with how people build, use and shape their surroundings.
Making time for the studio
Maintaining a full-time professional role alongside an established art practice requires careful use of time. Having practised art for more than 20 years, Abhijeet has adapted his approach to suit the hours available to him.
“It isn’t easy. But both come from the same place, so they don’t feel like two separate lives,” he says.
Rather than trying to produce a large volume of work, he concentrates on creating fewer pieces with greater purpose. His professional experience also gives him a continuing source of ideas, particularly around the climate realities that inform his paintings.
Every mark on the canvas is deliberate, purposeful, and directly tied to the climate realities I engage with daily.
Abhijeet Shrivastava
His work in infrastructure and sustainability provides context for his art, while the creative process offers a different way to communicate ideas that can otherwise seem technical or distant. By linking his paintings to biochar’s use on farms, he invites audiences to look beyond the canvas at the relationship between carbon, soil and climate resilience.
ALSO READ: Raghava KK: Building global conversations through art and ideas
Written By: Deepa Natarajan Lobo
Raghava KK: Building global conversations through art and ideas
Written By: Mallik Thatipalli
Bala Ayyappa: From Thanjavur to London, exploring heritage through art
