Soils play a special role in climate protection: they store more carbon than all vegetation and the atmosphere combined and can sequester additional greenhouse gas emissions in the form of carbon. At the same time, however, they can also be a source of emissions if the sequestered carbon is released through land use. In addition, the use of soils has other environmental impacts, for example on biodiversity and water quality. Climate-friendly soil use can have a positive impact on soil health and thus on climate adaptation goals and food security.

Climate protection measures on land also include technical carbon sequestration processes and procedures where individual natural processes are used, but without bolstering a natural ecosystem as a whole, as is the case with nature-based solutions (for example, accelerated weathering). These interventions are not presented in more detail on this site, but on the UBA geoengineering thematic sites.

In a research project initiated by UBA and in cooperation with the Ecologic Institute and the University of Gießen, the Öko Institute is investigating ‘Nature-based solutions in climate protection: market incentives to promote climate-friendly soil use’. The project runs from June 2021 to September 2023.

The project has two main objectives:

1. Classification and assessment of the global potential of nature-based solutions for the avoidance, mitigation and integration of greenhouse gases;
2. Analysis of specific approaches for climate-friendly soil use and assessment of options and risks of transfer-based instruments and other financial incentives to promote these measures.

Results on the first research objective are published on our Natural Climate Protection website. Results for the second part can be found on this site.

The role of soils in climate change mitigation

A report on the role of soils in climate protection investigates various measures for climate-friendly soil use and analyses the climate change mitigation potential of these measures at global, EU and national level.

Climate-friendly Soil Use Approaches

Source: German Enivronment Agency

Factsheets have been prepared for ten different approaches. Each approach is defined and its importance for Germany and the EU described. The climate change mitigation potential of the approaches is analysed, as are implementation challenges and options. In addition, it is checked if the interventions can be classified as nature-based solutions (NbS). The approaches investigated encompass various agroforestry systems, improved crop rotations, mechanisms for carbon storage or nitrification inhibition, expansion of use, mixed farming (crops and animals), strategies to prevent sealing and soil compaction and precision farming.

Challenges of Certifying Climate-friendly Soil Use

The quantification of climate change mitigation successes is particularly difficult for nature-based solutions (NbS) but it is a prerequisite for some climate finance instruments. Special challenges also arise when certified credits are to be issued for climate change mitigation successes achieved. These are investigated in a study and the special significance of climate-friendly soil use is presented.

Source: German Enivronment Agency

Fact sheets are prepared for the following issues:

• land use competitions
• impacts on soil health and biodiversity
• ownership conditions and use rights of soil
• social impacts
• additionality
• measurement of soil carbon levels
• determination of baselines
• shift effects
• durability of carbon sequestration
• double counting of climate change mitigation successes
• timing of credits issuance
• embedding a project in national policies