Aarthi Janakiraman, Research Director at the Everest Group, explores the role of soil in carbon storage, agricultural resilience, and business transformation
Soil has traditionally been treated as an agronomic concern and considered at the fringe of environmental policy. However, it is now recognised as a natural infrastructure that supports food production, water regulation, nutrient cycling, biodiversity, carbon storage, and agricultural resilience. For companies dependent on crops, livestock, and other land-intensive value chains, soil condition can directly affect supply security, input costs, farmer productivity, climate exposure, and long-term supply resilience. At the centre of this shift is soil biodiversity: the enormous community of bacteria, fungi, archaea, protists, nematodes, earthworms, arthropods, and other organisms.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) emphasises that these communities are essential to nutrient cycling, organic-matter dynamics, plant health, carbon cycling, and wider ecosystem functioning, with their role more complex than a simple relationship that creates more carbon. As climate change places greater pressure on agricultural systems, the biological life of soil is important not only to scientists and farmers, but also to corporate and sustainability teams, investors, and policymakers.
Building a global soil biodiversity monitoring system
Despite its importance, soil biodiversity is less systematically monitored than above-ground biodiversity. Unlike forests, vegetation, animals, and plants, which can often be observed through satellites or direct surveys, much soil life is microscopic, spatially variable, and difficult to classify.
Click here to see more...