Electromagnetic functional materials play an increasingly important role in solving electromagnetic wave pollution in both modern military and civil fields.Biomass carbon material is one of the promising candidates for EM wave shielding and absorption owing to their simple preparation process, environmentally friendly raw materials and strong sustainability.The unique biomass structure can effectively improve the attenuation and conversion of electromagnetic energy.Herein, the research progress of biomass based carbon materials with different structures for highperformance electromagnetic wave absorption (EWA) is reviewed.According to the regularity of the structure of biomass carbon materials, the proposed biomass carbon materials with high electromagnetic wave absorption properties are described and classified.This review work could provide the guidance for the design and preparation of new carbon-based absorbing materials in the future.