López i Losada et al. (2025): Carbon sequestration potential from sustainable management of arable land in the EU
Raül López i Losada, Mark Vincent Brady, Fredrik Wilhelmsson and Katarina Hedlund, IN: Environmental Research Letters, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae2140
Carbon sequestration in arable soils is gaining increasing attention in global policymaking initiatives for climate-change mitigation. Large-scale assessments of soil organic carbon development in arable land are affected by the scarcity of reliable time series of soil organic carbon monitoring data and often fail to replicate observed trends or appreciate any effects induced by changes in soil management. This study quantifies C loss from contemporary soil management on specialist crop farms in the EU and the potential societal benefits from C sequestration potential and avoided C loss due to improved management. The authors’ analysis is based on an evidence pool of 214 independent long-term time series of soil organic carbon measurements spanning a wide range of climatic conditions and soil types, and considers the implementation of reduced tillage, organic amendments, soil cover during winter, and crop rotations.