Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Analysis
  • Published:

The role of soil carbon in natural climate solutions

Abstract

Mitigating climate change requires clean energy and the removal of atmospheric carbon. Building soil carbon is an appealing way to increase carbon sinks and reduce emissions owing to the associated benefits to agriculture. However, the practical implementation of soil carbon climate strategies lags behind the potential, partly because we lack clarity around the magnitude of opportunity and how to capitalize on it. Here we quantify the role of soil carbon in natural (land-based) climate solutions and review some of the project design mechanisms available to tap into the potential. We show that soil carbon represents 25% of the potential of natural climate solutions (total potential, 23.8 Gt of CO2-equivalent per year), of which 40% is protection of existing soil carbon and 60% is rebuilding depleted stocks. Soil carbon comprises 9% of the mitigation potential of forests, 72% for wetlands and 47% for agriculture and grasslands. Soil carbon is important to land-based efforts to prevent carbon emissions, remove atmospheric carbon dioxide and deliver ecosystem services in addition to climate mitigation.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Additional SOC storage potential for 12 natural pathways to climate mitigation.
Fig. 2: Maximum climate mitigation potential of soil in 2030 across forest, agriculture and grassland, and wetland biome pathways with safeguards.

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

A global spatial dataset of reforestation opportunities is available on Zenodo (https://zenodo.org/record/883444). Figures 1 and 2 have associated raw data that can be made available upon request.

References

  1. Banwart, S. et al. Benefits of soil carbon: report on the outcomes of an international scientific committee on problems of the environment rapid assessment workshop. Carbon Manage. 5, 185–192 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Wood, S. A. & Baudron, F. Soil organic matter underlies crop nutritional quality and productivity in smallholder agriculture. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 266, 100–108 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Sanderman, J., Hengl, T. & Fiske, G. J. Soil carbon debt of 12,000 years of human land use. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 114, 9575–9580 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Jenkinson, D. S., Adams, D. E. & Wild, A. Model estimates of CO2 emissions from soil in response to global warming. Nature 351, 304–306 (1991).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Pries, C. E. H., Castanha, C., Porras, R. C. & Torn, M. S. The whole-soil carbon flux in response to warming. Science 355, 1420–1423 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Smith, P. et al. Greenhouse gas mitigation in agriculture. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 363, 789–813 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Smith, P. et al. Land-management options for greenhouse gas removal and their impacts on ecosystem services and the Sustainable Development Goals. Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 44, 255–286 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Rumpel, C. et al. Put more carbon in soils to meet Paris climate pledges. Nature 564, 32–34 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Vermeulen, S. et al. A global agenda for collective action on soil carbon. Nat. Sustain. 2, 2–4 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. von Unger, M. & Emmer, I. Carbon Market Incentives to Conserve, Restore and Enhance Soil Carbon (The Nature Conservancy, 2018).

  11. Fuss, S. et al. Negative emissions—part 2: costs, potentials and side effects. Environ. Res. Lett. 13, 063002 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Hamrick, K. & Gallant, M. Fertile Ground: State of Forest Carbon Finance (Forest Trends’ Ecosystem Marketplace, 2017).

  13. Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture Decision 4/COP.23 (UNFCCC, 2018); https://unfccc.int/decisions

  14. Smith, P. Soil carbon sequestration and biochar as negative emission technologies. Glob. Change Biol. 22, 1315–1324 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. West, T. O. & Six, J. Considering the influence of sequestration duration and carbon saturation on estimates of soil carbon capacity. Climatic Change 80, 25–41 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Sommer, R. & Bossio, D. Dynamics and climate change mitigation potential of soil organic carbon sequestration. J. Environ. Manage. 144, 83–87 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Dass, P., Houlton, B. Z., Wang, Y. & Warlind, D. Grasslands may be more reliable carbon sinks than forests in California. Environ. Res. Lett. 13, 074027 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Wang, J., Xiong, Z. & Kuzyakov, Y. Biochar stability in soil: meta-analysis of decomposition and priming effects. GCB Bioenergy 8, 512–523 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Schlesinger, W. H. & Amundson, R. Managing for soil carbon sequestration: let’s get realistic. Glob. Change Biol. 25, 386–389 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Amundson, R. & Biardeau, L. Opinion: soil carbon sequestration is an elusive climate mitigation tool. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 115, 11652–11656 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. White, R. E., Davidson, B., Lam, S. K. & Chen, D. A critique of the paper ‘Soil carbon 4 per mille’ by Minasny et al. (2017). Geofís. Int. 309, 115–117 (2018).

    Google Scholar 

  22. McLauchlan, K. K., Hobbie, S. E. & Post, W. M. Conversion from agriculture to grassland builds soil organic matter on decadal timescales. Ecol. Appl. 16, 143–153 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Smith, P. et al. Do grasslands act as a perpetual sink for carbon? Glob. Change Biol. 20, 2708–2711 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Gren, I.-M. & Aklilu, A. Z. Policy design for forest carbon sequestration: a review of the literature. For. Policy Econ. 70, 128–136 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Murray, B. C., Sohngen, B. & Ross, M. T. Economic consequences of consideration of permanence, leakage and additionality for soil carbon sequestration projects. Climatic Change 80, 127–143 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Joosten, H., Couwenberg, J., von Unger, M. & Emmer I. Peatlands, Forests and the Climate Architecture: Setting Incentives through Markets and Enhanced Accounting (German Environment Agency (UBA Climate Change), 2016); https://go.nature.com/3c9wZMy

  27. von Unger, M., Emmer, I., Joosten, H. & Couwenberg, J. Designing an International Peatland Carbon Standard, Criteria, Best Practices and Opportunities (German Environment Agency (UBA Climate Change), 2019).

  28. Federici, S., Lee, D. & Herold, M. Forest Mitigation: A Permanent Contribution to the Paris Agreement? (Norwegian International Climate and Forest Initiative, 2018).

  29. Burke, PaulJ. Undermined by adverse selection: Australia’s direct action abatement subsidies. Econ. Pap. 35, 216–229 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Perera, O., Wuennenberg, L., Uzsoki, D. & Cuéllar, A. Financing Soil Remediation: Exploring the Use of Financing Instruments to Blend Public and Private Capital (International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2018).

  31. Liagre, L., Lara Almuedo, P., Besacier, C. & Conigliaro, M. Sustainable Financing for Forest and Landscape Restoration: Opportunities, Challenges and the Way Forward (FAO, UNCCD, 2015).

  32. Griscom, B. W. et al. Natural climate solutions. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 114, 11645–11650 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Sanderman, J. & Baldock, J. A. Accounting for soil carbon sequestration in national inventories: a soil scientist’s perspective. Environ. Res. Lett. 5, 034003 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Nave, L. E. et al. Reforestation can sequester two petagrams of carbon in US topsoils in a century. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 115, 2776–2781 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Nordhaus, W. Estimates of the social cost of carbon: concepts and results from the DICE-2013R model and alternative approaches. J. Assoc. Environ. Resour. Econ. 1, 273–312 (2015).

    Google Scholar 

  36. Smith, P. et al. in Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change (eds Edenhofer, O. et al.) 811–922 (IPCC, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2014).

  37. de Coninck, H. et al. in Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C (eds Masson-Delmotte, V. et al.) Ch. 4 (IPCC, WMO, 2018).

  38. Sanderman, J. et al. Carbon sequestration under subtropical perennial pastures I: overall trends. Soil Res. 51, 760–770 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  39. Zomer, R. J., Bossio, D. A., Sommer, R. & Verchot, L. V. Global sequestration potential of increased organic carbon in cropland soils. Sci. Rep. 7, 15554 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  40. Powlson, D. S. et al. Limited potential of no-till agriculture for climate change mitigation. Nat. Clim. Change 4, 678–683 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Roberts, K. G., Gloy, B. A., Joseph, S., Scott, N. R. & Lehmann, J. Life cycle assessment of biochar systems: estimating the energetic, economic, and climate change potential. Environ. Sci. Technol. 44, 827–833 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  42. Lee, J. W., Hawkins, B., Li, X. & Day, D. M. in Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts (ed. Lee, J. W.) 57–68 (Springer, 2013).

  43. Conant, R. T., Paustian, K. & Elliott, E. T. Grassland management and conversion into grassland: effects on soil carbon. Ecol. Appl. 11, 343–355 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Toensmeier, E. The Carbon Farming Solution (Chelsea Green, 2016).

  45. Kell, D. B. Breeding crop plants with deep roots: their role in sustainable carbon, nutrient and water sequestration. Ann. Bot. 108, 407–418 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  46. McBratney, A., Koppi, T. & Field, D. J. Radical soil management for Australia: a rejuvenation process. Geoderma Reg. 7, 132–136 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Urban Biocycles (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017).

  48. Ryals, R., Hartman, M. D., Parton, W. J., DeLonge, M. S. & Silver, W. L. Long-term climate change mitigation potential with organic matter management on grasslands. Ecol. Appl. 25, 531–545 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Gravuer, K., Gennet, S. & Throop, H. L. Organic amendment additions to rangelands: a meta-analysis of multiple ecosystem outcomes. Glob. Change Biol. 25, 1152–1170 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Oldfield, E. E., Wood, S. A. & Bradford, M. A. Direct effects of soil organic matter on productivity mirror those observed with organic amendments. Plant Soil 423, 363–373 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  51. Busch, J. et al. Potential for low-cost carbon dioxide removal through tropical reforestation. Nat. Clim. Change 9, 463–466 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  52. Bastin, J.-F. et al. The global tree restoration potential. Science 365, 76–79 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  53. IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (eds Masson-Delmotte, V. et al.) (WMO, 2018).

  54. IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land (eds Shukla, P. R. et al.) (IPCC, 2019).

  55. Don, A., Schumacher, J. & Freibauer, A. Impact of tropical land‐use change on soil organic carbon stocks—a meta‐analysis. Glob. Change Biol. 17, 1658–1670 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  56. Powers, J. S., Corre, M. D., Twine, T. E. & Veldkamp, E. Geographic bias of field observations of soil carbon stocks with tropical land-use changes precludes spatial extrapolation. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 108, 6318–6322 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  57. Bremer, L. L. & Farley, K. A. Does plantation forestry restore biodiversity or create green deserts? A synthesis of the effects of land-use transitions on plant species richness. Biodivers. Conserv. 19, 3893–3915 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  58. Brockerhoff, E. G., Jactel, H., Parrotta, J. A., Quine, C. P. & Sayer, J. Plantation forests and biodiversity: oxymoron or opportunity? Biodivers. Conserv. 17, 925–951 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Erb, K.-H. et al. Exploring the biophysical option space for feeding the world without deforestation. Nat. Commun. 7, 11382 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  60. Herrero, M. et al. Biomass use, production, feed efficiencies, and greenhouse gas emissions from global livestock systems. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 110, 20888–20893 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  61. Li, Y. et al. Local cooling and warming effects of forests based on satellite observations. Nat. Commun. 6, 6603 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  62. Poeplau, C. & Don, A. Carbon sequestration in agricultural soils via cultivation of cover crops—a meta-analysis. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 200, 33–41 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  63. Chendev, Y. G. et al. in Soil Carbon Progress in Soil Science (eds Hartemink, A. E. & McSweeney, K.) 475–482 (Springer, 2014).

  64. Wang, F. et al. Biomass accumulation and carbon sequestration in four different aged Casuarina equisetifolia coastal shelterbelt plantations in South China. PLoS ONE 8, e77449 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  65. Sauer, T. J., Cambardella, C. A. & Brandle, J. R. Soil carbon and tree litter dynamics in a red cedar–scotch pine shelterbelt. Agrofor. Syst. 71, 163–174 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  66. Tsonkova, P., Böhm, C., Quinkenstein, A. & Freese, D. Ecological benefits provided by alley cropping systems for production of woody biomass in the temperate region: a review. Agrofor. Syst. 85, 133–152 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  67. Lu, Sen, Meng, P., Zhang, J., Yin, C. & Sun, S. Changes in soil organic carbon and total nitrogen in croplands converted to walnut-based agroforestry systems and orchards in southeastern Loess Plateau of China. Environ. Monit. Assess. 187, 688 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  68. Oelbermann, M. et al. Soil carbon dynamics and residue stabilization in a Costa Rican and southern Canadian alley cropping system. Agrofor. Syst. 68, 27–36 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  69. Ramankutty, N. & Foley, J. A. Estimating historical changes in global land cover: croplands from 1700 to 1992. Glob. Biogeochem. Cycles 13, 997–1027 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  70. Murdiyarso, D., Hergoualc’h, K. & Verchot, L. V. Opportunities for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in tropical peatlands. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 107, 19655–19660 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  71. Adams, J. M. & Faure, H. A new estimate of changing carbon storage on land since the last glacial maximum, based on global land ecosystem reconstruction. Glob. Planet. Change 16–17, 3–24 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  72. Joosten, H. The Global Peatland CO 2 Picture (Wetlands International, 2009).

  73. Nayak, D. et al. Management opportunities to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from Chinese agriculture. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 209, 108–124 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  74. Rosentreter, J. A., Maher, D. T., Erler, D. V., Murray, R. H. & Eyre, B. D. Methane emissions partially offset ‘blue carbon’ burial in mangroves. Sci. Adv. 4, 4985 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  75. Mcleod, E. et al. A blueprint for blue carbon: toward an improved understanding of the role of vegetated coastal habitats in sequestering CO2. Front. Ecol. Environ. 9, 552–560 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  76. Bouillon, S. et al. Mangrove production and carbon sinks: a revision of global budget estimates. Glob. Biogeochem. Cycles 22, GB2013 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  77. Pendleton, L. et al. Estimating global ‘blue carbon’ emissions from conversion and degradation of vegetated coastal ecosystems. PLoS ONE 7, e43542 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  78. Jardine, S. L. & Siikamäki, J. V. A global predictive model of carbon in mangrove soils. Environ. Res. Lett. 9, 104013 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  79. Hamilton, S. E. & Friess, D. A. Global carbon stocks and potential emissions due to mangrove deforestation from 2000 to 2012. Nat. Clim. Change 8, 240–244 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  80. Sanderman, J. et al. A global map of mangrove forest soil carbon at 30 m spatial resolution. Environ. Res. Lett. 13, 055002 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  81. Griscom, B. W. et al. We need both natural and energy solutions to stabilize our climate. Glob. Change Biol. 25, 1889–1890 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study was made possible by funding from the Craig and Susan McCaw Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

D.A.B. and B.W.G. designed the study. D.A.B., B.W.G., S.C.C.-P., P.W.E., J.F. and J.S. provided the data analysis. D.A.B., B.W.G., S.C.C.-P., P.W.E., J.F., J.S., P.S., S.W., R.J.Z., M.v.U. and I.M.E. interpreted the data and wrote the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to D. A. Bossio.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bossio, D.A., Cook-Patton, S.C., Ellis, P.W. et al. The role of soil carbon in natural climate solutions. Nat Sustain 3, 391–398 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-0491-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-0491-z

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing