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Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) are each country’s climate commitments under the Paris Agreement, aimed at limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C and adapting to climate impacts. These pledges are updated every five years, with the next round—NDCs 3.0—due in 2025. Strengthening NDCs in this cycle is essential to secure a more resilient, sustainable future for all.
Prior NDC commitments have left the world on track for 2.6–3.1°C of warming—far beyond the agreed target. Every fraction of a degree brings greater risks to ecosystems, economies, and communities, underscoring the urgent need for more decisive action.
Only 14 countries submitted their NDCs 3.0 by the February 10, 2025, deadline. With 2024 closing out as the hottest year on record, the stakes are high. If crafted effectively, this year’s NDCs will be more than blueprints for emissions reduction—they will drive economic growth, create jobs, reduce inequalities, and enhance public health.
Despite its immense potential, soil health has been largely overlooked in past NDCs, with only 7% of countries including it in their pledges. Most countries have missed a cost-effective, scalable, and proven climate solution: increasing soil organic carbon (SOC). As governments refine their commitments, integrating SOC should be a priority, not only as a mitigation tool but as a foundation for resilience and sustainable development.
Soil holds more carbon than all the world’s forests combined, offering a vast yet underutilized opportunity for climate change mitigation. Restoring agricultural soils could remove up to 10% of global emissions annually. By supporting the adoption of practices that boost SOC—like cover cropping, reduced tillage, and rotational grazing—governments can store atmospheric carbon in their country’s soil while simultaneously improving water quality, enhancing biodiversity, and strengthening food system resilience. The benefits go beyond climate: boosting local economies through increased agricultural productivity, catalyzing community development by creating new revenue streams for farmers and ranchers, and enhancing food security by adapting to and mitigating climate change.
Each country has unique opportunities to elevate soil health within their NDCs 3.0. Through embedding regenerative agriculture practices, policymakers can tap into a cost-effective, high-impact strategy for removing carbon emissions and bolstering resilience against climate extremes.
Forward-thinking governments are beginning to recognize soil health as a powerful tool for climate action. Among the 14 nations that have submitted their 2025 NDCs to date, Botswana focuses on improved rangeland management to boost soil carbon and advance adaptation and mitigation with co-benefits, while Brazil aims to restore degraded pastures through expanded integrated crop-livestock systems and recognizes nature-based carbon removal credits as a key financial instrument. Uruguay integrates carbon sequestration in agricultural soils and natural pastures through regenerative practices in their NDCs 3.0, including mandatory soil management plans and climate finance to scale sustainable land-use solutions. The United States plans to prioritize climate-smart agriculture and soil carbon sequestration, using federal investment, carbon finance, and technology-driven MRV to accelerate soil restoration, enhance food security, and reduce emissions in agriculture and livestock sectors. These examples demonstrate a growing global commitment to integrating soil health into climate strategies, unlocking its potential for carbon sequestration.
Carbon finance offers governments a critical pathway to fund soil health initiatives and meet their NDC targets. By leveraging international climate finance and digital MRV (monitoring, reporting, and verification) technologies, countries can scale regenerative agriculture, improve SOC, and drive measurable emissions reductions.
The voluntary carbon market enables governments to attract private-sector investment in soil restoration projects, generating carbon credits that can be sold to companies seeking to offset their emissions. This funding can support farmers in adopting climate-smart practices at scale.
In compliance markets, where carbon reductions are mandated by national law, soil carbon can be integrated into national cap-and-trade systems. For example, under Japan’s Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM)—a bilateral collaboration between Japan and 29 partner countries to support carbon projects—Boomitra is developing a soil carbon project in Mongolia, contributing to Japan’s emissions reduction targets. Farther south, Singapore has been at the forefront of using Article 6 to establish carbon credit agreements with other nations, creating pathways for funding nature-based solutions, including soil carbon projects. By incorporating soil carbon into these mechanisms, governments can secure investment for large-scale soil restoration to achieve their NDC commitments.
By tapping into these markets, governments can unlock new resources to fund soil restoration, strengthen food security, and accelerate progress toward their climate commitments.
Soil restoration is a proven yet underutilized tool for achieving national and global climate goals. However, translating policy ambition into measurable impact requires expertise, robust measurement systems, and effective on-the-ground implementation.
Boomitra partners with governments to make soil health a reality. With a proven track record in project development, soil measurement, digital MRV, capacity building, and farmer/rancher incentives, Boomitra provides end-to-end support for scaling soil carbon initiatives while helping governments report on progress towards NDCs. Our remote sensing technology enables cost-effective, farm-level carbon measurement across diverse landscapes, from vast grasslands in Argentina and Mexico to one-acre farms in Kenya and India. This makes carbon measurement accessible, scalable, and inclusive, ensuring that even remote landowners and smallholder farmers can benefit from global carbon markets. We work with local organizations to ensure soil restoration efforts are tailored to regional agricultural systems and benefit the farmers and landowners implementing these practices.
Left: A carbon farmer meeting in India. Right: A participating ranch in Argentina.
By working with Boomitra, governments can develop high-integrity soil carbon projects, access international climate finance, and deliver real, measurable climate benefits—all while supporting rural communities and sustainable agriculture. As countries refine their NDCs, now is the time to elevate soil health and SOC as a cornerstone of effective climate action.
To explore how Boomitra can support your country’s NDC goals, schedule a call with Anirudh Keny, our Director of Global Project Origination.
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