The Underrecognized Role of Soil Processes in Global Climate Change Mitigation: A Critical Review

Soils represent the largest terrestrial carbon reservoir, storing more carbon than the atmosphere and vegetation combined, and therefore play a critical role in climate change mitigation. This review synthesizes current evidence on the role of soils in mitigating climate change, with a focus on soil carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas regulation, and the effectiveness of soil-based management strategies. A comprehensive evaluation of recent meta-analyses, global datasets, and modeling studies was conducted to assess key mitigation pathways and identify existing policy and knowledge gaps. The findings indicate that practices such as conservation agriculture, cover cropping, biochar application, manure amendments, agroforestry, liming, and enhanced rock weathering can significantly increase soil organic carbon stocks and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, although their effectiveness varies depending on soil type, climate, and management conditions. Quantitative evidence shows that cover crops can increase soil organic carbon by approximately 15.5%, while manure and biochar applications can enhance carbon stocks by over 30% and 60%, respectively, under favorable conditions. Despite this potential, the integration of soils into climate mitigation policies remains limited due to measurement uncertainties, insufficient long-term data, and weak inclusion in carbon market frameworks. Overall, soils represent a substantial yet underutilized opportunity for climate mitigation, and improving monitoring systems, strengthening policy integration, and promoting site-specific management strategies are essential to fully harness their potential while supporting sustainable agricultural systems.