Soil carbon debt from land use change in Brazil

Carbon farming is a fundamental strategy for mitigating climate change. Brazil, with 276 million hectares of agricultural land, has strong potential to lead this agenda, but uncertainty about soil carbon (C) debt hinders understanding of its true mitigation capacity. Here, we estimate the soil carbon gap, the difference between soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks under native vegetation and agricultural land across Brazil's six biomes, which represents the theoretical potential for soil recarbonization. A meta-analysis using a comprehensive national SOC database (4,290 records, 0-30 cm) is used to estimate an overall carbon debt of 1.40 ± 0.1 Pg C. The results show that sustainable practices such as crop…

• RC
  Research Centre for Gas Innovation

  Award: 2020/15230-5
• FD
  Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

  Awards: 2020/15230-5, 2021/, 2021/10573-4, 2022/08629-4
• CN
  Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico

  Awards: 302249/2025-7, 2020/15230-5
• SB
  Shell Brasil

  Award: 2020/15230-5