Climate & Environment
Soil Carbon
Carbon stored in soil organic matter — a vast stock, a climate mitigation opportunity, and a foundation of soil health.
Definition
Soil carbon is the carbon held within soil organic matter — decomposed plant and animal material and microbial biomass. Soils store more carbon than the atmosphere and vegetation combined; management that builds soil organic carbon (cover cropping, reduced tillage, agroforestry, grassland restoration) can sequester atmospheric CO₂ while improving fertility, water retention and resilience, though gains are reversible and hard to measure precisely.
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