As the climate crisis worsens, extreme weather events like heatwaves, droughts, and intense storms are happening more frequently and with greater severity. While reducing greenhouse gas emissions is essential, there’s another powerful and often overlooked tool in our fight against climate change: soil. Healthy soil plays a key role in stabilizing weather patterns. It absorbs and stores carbon, improves water retention, and supports resilient ecosystems. Unlike expensive technological fixes, nurturing soil is a natural, scalable, and sustainable approach that not only benefits the planet but also boosts agricultural productivity. By understanding the vital link between soil health and climate stability, we can take meaningful action to protect the environment and ensure food security for generations to come.
Earth’s soil holds about 2,500 gigatons of carbon—three times more than the atmosphere and four times more than all living plants and animals combined. This massive capacity makes soil one of the most powerful natural tools we have in the fight against climate change.
“Considering the sheer size of the soil carbon pool, even small increases in its capacity can significantly affect climate stabilization,” explains soil ecologist Ben Taylor.
How much carbon soils can absorb and how long they can store it varies by location and is effectively determined by how the land is managed. Because almost half the land that can support plant life on Earth has been converted to croplands, pastures, and rangelands, soils have actually lost 50 to 70 percent of the carbon they once held. This has contributed about a quarter of all the manmade global greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet.
Agricultural practices that disturb soil—like tilling, mono-cropping, removing crop residues, overusing fertilizers and pesticides, or overgrazing—expose soil carbon to oxygen, releasing it into the atmosphere. Similarly, deforestation, thawing permafrost, and drained peatlands release large amounts of stored carbon.
Plants absorb CO₂ from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, converting it into leaves, stems, seeds, and roots. Plants release some CO₂ back during respiration, while roots excrete carbon-rich substances that feed soil microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and nematodes. When plants die, soil bacteria decompose the organic material, using some carbon for growth and releasing the rest as CO₂.
Soil stores more carbon when it is protected from microbial activity. Soil aggregates—clumps of tiny particles—shield carbon within them. Mycorrhizal fungi, which secrete sticky compounds to help form these aggregates, transfer 15% more carbon into the soil than other microbes. High clay content also chemically protects carbon from decomposition. These aggregates not only store carbon but also improve soil structure for healthy plant growth.
Carbon in soil exists in three pools:
Fast pool: Mostly fresh plant residues and root exudates; lasts days to years and breaks down quickly, releasing CO₂.
Slow pool: Processed plant material and microbial residue; remains in soil for years to decades.
Stable pool: Humus and deep soil carbon; can stay for centuries or millennia, safely sequestered from microbes
A 2017 study estimates that, if properly managed, the world’s cropland could store an additional 1.85 gigatons of carbon per year—the amount the global transportation industry emits annually and some scientists believes that soil can continue to store carbon for 20 to 40 years for many years before becoming saturated.
Most crops are annuals, so fields are generally empty after harvest. Agriculture can compensate for carbon losses by injecting more carbon into the soil by leaving crop residues in the soil or planting cover crops such as sesame seeds.
Crop rotation and the use of a variety of crops, particularly perennials with deeper roots, increase the amount of carbon in the soil by adding a wider range of biomass, some of which may be more resistant to breakdown.
When tillage is kept to a minimum, soil aggregates stay intact and their carbon is protected from oxygen exposure.
“By restoring the soil with natural sources of organics that support beneficial microbes that improve plant growth, the plants will flourish and draw down the carbon from the atmosphere,” O. Roger Anderson, a biologist at the Earth Institute’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, explained via email. “Theoretically, the plants will grow at a more robust rate, drawing down CO2 more rapidly than the relatively lower emissions of CO2 that the metabolism of the microbes produces in a healthy soil ecosystem.”
Temperature and precipitation shifts affect soil organic matter and carbon distribution. New research shows soils may release more carbon than previously expected as global warming continues. While shallow soil warming (5–20 cm) increases CO₂ emissions by 9–12%, deeper soil warming (up to 1 meter) could release 37% more carbon than normal.
Rising atmospheric CO₂ boosts plant growth and root secretions, which feed microbes and accelerate decomposition, potentially turning soils from carbon sinks into carbon sources later this century. Microbes may evolve to digest previously resistant carbon, creating ongoing pulses of CO₂.
Recent studies indicate that soil carbon storage alone cannot solve climate change. Models may overestimate storage capacity by up to 40%, and large-scale carbon absorption could take hundreds to thousands of years. While soil has huge potential, disturbances to peatlands and permafrost could release vast amounts of carbon, worsening global warming.
Despite this, enhancing soil carbon offers multiple co-benefits: fertile soils retain moisture, improve food production, support biodiversity, resist desertification, prevent erosion, and sustain crops through droughts and pest pressures. More microbes enable deeper root growth, and improved carbon content enhances soil and water quality—helping societies adapt to climate change while feeding a growing population.
Investing in soil health offers a win solution for the planet. It reduces greenhouse gas emissions, supports biodiversity, and helps stabilize weather patterns—all while enhancing agricultural productivity.
“Healthy soil is a critical instrument in the arsenal against climate change,” Taylor highlights. For a more secure and sustainable future, let us give top priority to actions that preserve and replenish this natural resource.
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Ans. Healthy soil stores carbon from the atmosphere, reducing greenhouse gases that drive global warming. By protecting soil carbon through sustainable farming, cover crops, and minimal tillage, soil not only lowers CO₂ levels but also improves plant growth and land productivity.
Ans. Yes. Soil holds about three times as much carbon as the atmosphere and four times more than all living plants and animals combined. This makes soil one of the largest natural carbon reservoirs on Earth and a key tool in climate stabilization.
Ans. Practices like crop rotation, planting perennials, leaving crop residues, using cover crops, and minimizing tillage help protect carbon in soil. These methods maintain soil aggregates and support beneficial microbes, which increase long-term carbon storage and improve soil health.
Ans. Rising temperatures and changing rainfall can accelerate microbial activity, breaking down stored carbon and releasing CO₂ into the atmosphere. Deeper soil layers are especially vulnerable, potentially turning soils from carbon sinks into carbon sources if not managed carefully.