Soil carbon sequestration in global working lands as a gateway for negative emission technologies |
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| Authors: | Maya Almaraz Maegen Simmonds F Garrett Boudinot Alan V Di Vittorio Nina Bingham Sat Darshan S Khalsa Steven Ostoja Kate Scow Andrew Jones Iris Holzer Erin Manaigo Emily Geoghegan Heath Goertzen Whendee L Silver |
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| Institution: | 1. Institute of the Environment, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, USA;2. Pivot Bio, Berkeley, California, USA;3. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA;4. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA;5. Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, USA;6. Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, USA;7. Institute of the Environment, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, USA
USDA California Climate Hub, Agricultural Research Service, Davis, California, USA;8. Department of Environmental Science Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA |
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| Abstract: | The ongoing climate crisis merits an urgent need to devise management approaches and new technologies to reduce atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations (GHG) in the near term. However, each year that GHG concentrations continue to rise, pressure mounts to develop and deploy atmospheric CO2 removal pathways as a complement to, and not replacement for, emissions reductions. Soil carbon sequestration (SCS) practices in working lands provide a low-tech and cost-effective means for removing CO2 from the atmosphere while also delivering co-benefits to people and ecosystems. Our model estimates suggest that, assuming additive effects, the technical potential of combined SCS practices can provide 30%–70% of the carbon removal required by the Paris Climate Agreement if applied to 25%–50% of the available global land area, respectively. Atmospheric CO2 drawdown via SCS has the potential to last decades to centuries, although more research is needed to determine the long-term viability at scale and the durability of the carbon stored. Regardless of these research needs, we argue that SCS can at least serve as a bridging technology, reducing atmospheric CO2 in the short term while energy and transportation systems adapt to a low-C economy. Soil C sequestration in working lands holds promise as a climate change mitigation tool, but the current rate of implementation remains too slow to make significant progress toward global emissions goals by 2050. Outreach and education, methodology development for C offset registries, improved access to materials and supplies, and improved research networks are needed to accelerate the rate of SCS practice implementation. Herein, we present an argument for the immediate adoption of SCS practices in working lands and recommendations for improved implementation. |
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| Keywords: | agroforestry climate change cover crops regenerative agriculture soil amendments soil carbon sequestration no-till |
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