From ‘cover crops’ to ‘carbon credits’ soil carbon is a hotly debated topic, but what exactly is it? How does it influence soil health and our ability to grow food? And what impact does human activity have on it? Dig deeper and discover how much you know with our quiz…
The Earth’s soils contain around 1500 billion tonnes of carbon. This is significantly less than the oceans – the world’s largest carbon sink at 40,000 billion tonnes – but significantly more than the atmosphere (800 billion tonnes) and all plant and animal life (560 billion tonnes). Soil’s ability to store carbon, through organic matter, makes it a key player in the global carbon cycle, in which carbon is exchanged within and between the atmosphere, the oceans, and land. But what happens to this cycle when human activity interferes? And what is the EU doing about it? All will be revealed, but first, let’s take a closer look at the ground beneath our feet.
Want to learn more?
Read our carbon farming policy recommendations: ‘Carbon Farming for Climate, Nature, and Farmers‘ or this META article: ‘The buzz and true potential of carbon farming‘.
To learn more about the importance of healthy soils see our META article: ‘Four things you need to know about soil health‘ and to discover what the EU is doing to protect European soils (and what more needs to be done) head to our website.
