Environmental resource management

Climate change

Soil science

Soil water

Economics

Soil functions

Natural resource economics

Soil organic matter

Ecology

Carbon sequestration

Soil survey

Environmental science

Soil carbon

Climate change mitigation

Carbon dioxide

Soil biodiversity

Soil management

Biology

Nature Communications

Sustainable soil carbon sequestration practices need to be rapidly scaled up and implemented to contribute to climate change mitigation. We highlight that the major potential for carbon sequestration is in cropland soils, especially those with large yield gaps and/or large historic soil organic carbon losses. The implementation of soil carbon sequestration measures requires a diverse set of options, each adapted to local soil conditions and management opportunities, and accounting for site-specific trade-offs. We propose the establishment of a soil information system containing localised information on soil group, degradation status, crop yield gap, and the associated carbon-sequestration potentials, as well as the provision of incentives and policies to translate management options into region- and soil-specific practices.

Towards a global-scale soil climate mitigation strategy