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03 Carbon Removal Pathway
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Soil Carbon &
Regenerative Agriculture

The world's agricultural and rangeland soils represent one of the largest untapped carbon sinks on Earth. Regenerative practices - no-till farming, cover cropping, rotational grazing - can significantly increase soil organic carbon while improving food security, water retention, and farmer livelihoods across the Global South.

Terrestrial ⏳ Decades 📋 TM-003 ● Active
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1.5 Gt
Annual sequestration potential
5–30yr
Typical crediting period
High
Food security co-benefit
Medium
Current measurement confidence
TM-003
Teravent Methodology ID
View MRV protocols →

How this pathway works

Soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration through improved land management is among the most widely applicable carbon removal approaches. Agricultural soils have historically lost 50–70% of their original carbon content due to intensive tillage, monocropping, and overgrazing - creating significant potential for restoration.

Teravent requires rigorous soil sampling protocols for all registered soil carbon projects, consistent with Teravent MRP-03. This includes stratified baseline measurements, permanent sample plots, and 3-year verification cycles with independent laboratory analysis. The 'saturation problem' - the tendency for soil carbon gains to plateau - is explicitly modelled in Teravent's conservative crediting approach.

The greatest opportunity for soil carbon sequestration lies in smallholder farming regions across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Latin America, where land degradation has depleted SOC most severely and co-benefits for food security are most significant.

Project types accepted

The following variants of the Soil Carbon pathway are currently eligible for registration in the Teravent Registry.

No-till and reduced-tillage crop production systems
Cover cropping and green manure integration
Compost and organic matter application programmes
Rotational and holistic planned grazing management
Biochar application to agricultural soils (see also: Biochar pathway)
Grassland and rangeland restoration programmes
Integrated crop-livestock systems

Measurement, reporting
& verification

Teravent's Science Advisory Board assesses each pathway against four MRV dimensions. These scores reflect the current state of measurement science and are updated as methodology evolves.

Remote Sensing AccuracyMedium
Ground-Truth FeasibilityHigh
Permanence ConfidenceMedium
Additionality ClarityMedium–High
🔬 Science & Measurement Note

Soil carbon measurement requires dry combustion analysis (elemental analyser) for total organic carbon, combined with bulk density measurements to convert to per-hectare stock values. Teravent MRP-03 governs all sampling, laboratory, and QA/QC requirements.

Key registration criteria

Projects must meet all of the following minimum requirements to be considered for registration under the Soil Carbon pathway. Additional requirements may apply depending on project size, geography, and specific methodology version.

Project involves a documented change in land management practice from baseline
Minimum 50 soil sample plots per 1,000 ha, stratified by soil type and land use
3-year monitoring and verification cycles with independent laboratory analysis
Additionality demonstrated: practice change is not financially incentivised by other programmes
Saturation modelling applied; credits only issued for net verified stock increases

Sustainable Development
Goal alignment

All Teravent registered Soil Carbon projects must complete an SDG impact assessment at registration and at each verification period. 6 SDGs are tracked for this pathway.

SDG 2 Zero HungerSDG 13 Climate ActionSDG 15 Life on LandSDG 1 No PovertySDG 6 Clean WaterSDG 8 Decent Work

Focus region: Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia - where co-benefits for communities and ecosystems are most significant and credit demand most transformational.

🌾 Soil Carbon

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removal project?

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