Putting Carbon back where it belongs - the potential of carbon sequestration in the soil

Soil’s contribution to climate change, through the oxidation of soil carbon, is important. However, soils – and thus agriculture - can play a major role in mitigating climate change. Through multiple agricultural practices, we could help store vast amounts of atmospheric carbon in the soil, while at the same time regenerating soil fertility, plant health and whole ecosystems. This is a no regret option that offers multiple benefits and deserves high-level visibility.
A key conclusion of this Foresight Brief is that only a combination of approaches can help mitigate climate change. But even more importantly, it broadly demonstrates how agricultural practices that increase soil organic matter are supportive of enhanced food production, increased biodiversity, enhanced water retention and drought resistance and other important ecosystem services, and offer in reality a win-win solution for farmers and society as a whole. Current structures which sustain the “industrialized agricultural system” are complex and well established, and include farmers, machinery and chemicals manufacturers, markets and commerce, taxes and subsidies, low consumer prices and other factors. Broad implementation of the approaches described above can only be achieved with the active support of governments, while the development of the regenerative agriculture movement remains currently mainly a bottom-up one.