· 7 min read
At a glance:
As corporate climate commitments face growing scrutiny and shifting expectations, carbon removal remains a critical but underleveraged tool. Yet most attention still gravitates toward high-cost engineered solutions or low-impact avoidance credits. This article makes the case for soil carbon sequestration - a scalable, cost-effective, and co-benefit-rich solution with growing market credibility - and explores how corporates across sectors can engage with it to deliver credible climate action.
2025 marks the halfway point of the decisive decade for climate action, yet emissions remain far off track for meeting the 1.5°C global temperature target. Many critical tipping points (like permafrost thaw and rainforest collapse) fall between 1.5-2°C. Crossing them would trigger irreversible consequences that no amount of future carbon reduction or removal can undo. The simple truth remains: to avoid the most catastrophic outcomes, we must urgently limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
Companies are increasingly expected, by regulation and investors alike, to not only reduce emissions but also fund carbon removals. Even with deep emissions cuts, IPCC models show that to limit global warming to 1.5°C, we may need to remove 10 billion tonnes (Gt) of carbon dioxide per year by 2050, with the exact amount depending on how quickly we reduce emissions in the near term.
That’s a colossal amount, nearly a quarter of today’s global emissions annually. So, we need to achieve gigaton-scale carbon removal. But how can corporates contribute to doing so?
The voluntary carbon market (VCM) has increasingly gravitated towards two extremes: ultra-cheap avoidance credits that do not physically remove carbon from the atmosphere and ultra-high durability engineered removals that promise 1,000+ years of permanence yet face major cost and scalability barriers. This leaves a major gap in the middle for nature-based solutions such as soil carbon sequestration, the process of capturing and storing carbon in soil, which can provide immediate and scalable carbon drawdown yet is often overlooked. Soil, the largest terrestrial carbon sink, stores three times more carbon than the atmosphere.
Soil carbon sequestration could remove roughly 2-5 Gt of CO₂ annually by 2050, making it a gigaton-scale solution to closing the climate gap. Yet despite this potential, it remains underutilised due to concerns over measurement, durability, and current market design. Concerns over measurement, durability, and market design have fuelled skepticism - understandable given early-stage challenges. But the sector has made major strides in recent years, and the voluntary carbon market must now evolve to prioritise solutions that can scale rapidly while maintaining integrity.
New science-based methodologies, digital MRV (dMRV) systems, and robust standards (like Verra’s VM0042, which quantifies soil organic carbon stock change from improved agricultural practices) are improving transparency and consistency. Projects adhering to best-in-class standards aligned with ICVCM criteria demonstrate real-world practice changes, meet strict additionality criteria, and apply conservative carbon accounting principles to mitigate risk. Durability is also addressed through buffers and incentive structures, while ongoing monitoring encourages continued performance.
AI-powered MRV systems are proving transformative by combining satellite imagery, machine learning models, and targeted soil sampling. These advanced technologies improve measurement accuracy while significantly reducing costs, enabling broader farmer participation and directing more capital to those regenerating the land while maintaining scientific rigour. Innovators like Agreena are leading the way in deploying these scalable, cost-effective systems, empowering corporates to confidently invest in verified soil carbon removals and accelerating credible climate action.
Just as with renewable energy in its infancy, early-stage scrutiny is driving better outcomes rather than undermining them. As the market matures, so too does its credibility.
Soil carbon’s role in corporate climate strategies
Soil carbon sequestration is one of the few near-term, scalable and cost-effective solutions available today. While prices can vary by project and methodology, current soil carbon credit prices often range from $40-60 per ton, significantly lower than the $250-500 range for engineered removals like Direct Air Capture (DAC). This makes it a highly cost-effective removal pathway, especially when deployed at scale, while avoiding the heavy infrastructure demands of engineered solutions. It can be implemented rapidly across geographies and brings multiple co-benefits beyond carbon, from improved soil health and food security to enhanced biodiversity, water quality, and even nutritional value. Unlike reforestation, it delivers immediate impact without the time lag required for trees to mature and reach peak carbon storage.
So, how can corporates integrate it into their business strategies?
For agrifood players, insetting - funding carbon reduction and removal initiatives inside their own supply chain - can help meet Scope 3 reduction goals, lower emissions associated with crop production, and strengthen supply chain resilience. It can also build transparency and connectivity across fragmented supply chains, helping corporates better understand and support farmer needs.
For non-agrifood players in sectors like tech, finance or energy, offsetting - funding external projects to compensate for residual emissions - with soil carbon projects provides a way to invest in carbon removals while also supporting broader societal and environmental goals.
Crucially, the combination of both these strategies supports farmers to adopt regenerative practices that increase soil carbon. Why does this matter?
At present, most agrifood initiatives (e.g., insetting) focus on regenerative programmes for a single crop, such as wheat. But farmers rarely grow just one crop, meaning single-crop programmes often fall short of supporting a full-farm transition. The VCM can fill this gap by enabling regenerative practices across their entire operation.
It’s like having one company sponsoring full scholarships for students in a particular subject (to keep on brand, let’s say ‘agriculture studies’) to develop a future workforce tailored to their needs. In contrast, the VCM would take the form of education grants funded by other companies to improve skills across a broader range of related fields like STEM subjects - benefitting the entire ecosystem.
The business case: financial, environmental and societal wins
For agrifood companies, insetting soil carbon supports Scope 3 targets and a resilient supply chain for continued production. By supporting the cultivation of healthy soils, they are helping farmers produce stable crop yields, lower input costs, and build supply chain security. But aside from the direct supply chain impact, it can also offer a competitive advantage.
McKinsey research has shown a correlation between sustainability commitments, product growth and customer loyalty, suggesting companies investing in regenerative agriculture commitments can drive market differentiation.
For non-agrifood businesses, investing in soil carbon can demonstrate climate leadership, enhancing investor confidence and brand trust. Non-value-chain buyers, such as Fortune 500s and offtaker coalitions like Symbiosis and Frontier, may choose to invest in soil carbon removal because of broader benefits, including:
• Global food security: degraded soils threaten future food production - Ecosystem restoration: soil health improvements contribute to biodiversity and help soils retain water, reducing flood and drought risks while limiting fertiliser runoff, a major source of water pollution
• Farmer livelihoods: supporting regenerative agriculture increases incomes for food producers on the frontlines of climate change, particularly in developing regions - Human health: healthier soils enhance nutrient density, a potential lever to combat malnutrition and support long-term well-being
Yet market participation is currently dominated by a handful of early adopters, primarily in big tech. These early adopters are setting the tone for carbon removal purchases, driving market development through significant investment and long-term commitments.
For soil carbon to scale effectively, however, we need more diverse participation, including mid-sized corporations and new sectors. As carbon market guardrails like ICVCM and VCMI emerge, corporates can look to removal options that meet integrity thresholds and deliver real impact.
Why corporates need to engage now
Global carbon removal volumes are still in the hundreds of thousands of tonnes, nowhere near the billions required. While no single solution (engineered or nature-based) can solve the climate crisis alone, soil carbon sequestration is one of the fastest levers we can pull today and one of the most inclusive.
Without urgent intervention, 90% of global soils could be degraded by 2050. We cannot afford to watch our living soils turn into lifeless dirt. Beyond climate impacts, soil degradation threatens global food security at a time when we need to feed 10 billion people by 2050. As extreme weather events intensify, healthy soils provide the resilience our food systems desperately need.
For agrifood companies, insetting enhances business resilience. For others, investing in soil carbon offers a credible and cost-accessible path to achieving climate goals while supporting nature and society at large.
However, unlocking the full potential of soil carbon requires increased corporate participation and investment.
The window to lead is closing. Companies that step up now won’t just mitigate climate risks - they’ll help professionalise and scale a vital carbon removal pathway, shape emerging norms, and gain strategic advantage in an economy increasingly focused on resilience and nature-positive outcomes. Early movers have a unique opportunity to define what quality looks like, drive credibility, and unlock the full potential of nature-based solutions, especially as markets evolve beyond carbon tunnel vision to value broader environmental and societal outcomes.
illuminem Voices is a democratic space presenting the thoughts and opinions of leading Sustainability & Energy writers, their opinions do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.
