InBestSoil

Soil is an important, yet often neglected, element of the climate system. It is the second largest carbon store or "carbon dioxide sink" after the oceans. Restoring essential terrestrial ecosystems and sustainable land use in urban and rural areas can help us mitigate and adapt to climate change. The loss of soil quality currently costs an estimated €50 billion annually. Using an innovative business model, the objective of InBestSoil is to create a framework for investing in the conservation and restoration of soil health by developing a system of economic valuation of the ecosystem services provided by healthy soil, as well as incorporating it into business models and incentives. This enables public and private organizations to design strategies with local stakeholders and work collectively to deliver EU policies, providing data, evidence, tools, and models to assess how investments in soil health can contribute to the transition to a durable and long-term resistance of the soil. This 48-month project, funded by the European Union through the Horizon Europe program, will involve twenty partners from ten countries with very different profiles (universities, small and medium-sized enterprises, consultancies, farmers, and NGOs, among others).