Making agriculture sustainable is a global challenge. In the European Union (EU), the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is failing with respect to biodiversity, climate, soil, land degradation as well as socio\uffe2\uff80\uff90economic challenges.
The European Commission's proposal for a CAP post\uffe2\uff80\uff902020 provides a scope for enhanced sustainability. However, it also allows Member States to choose low\uffe2\uff80\uff90ambition implementation pathways. It therefore remains essential to address citizens' demands for sustainable agriculture and rectify systemic weaknesses in the CAP, using the full breadth of available scientific evidence and knowledge.
Concerned about current attempts to dilute the environmental ambition of the future CAP, and the lack of concrete proposals for improving the CAP in the draft of the European Green Deal, we call on the European Parliament, Council and Commission to adopt 10 urgent action points for delivering sustainable food production, biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation.
Knowledge is available to help moving towards evidence\uffe2\uff80\uff90based, sustainable European agriculture that can benefit people, nature and their joint futures.
The statements made in this article have the broad support of the scientific community, as expressed by above 3,600 signatories to the preprint version of this manuscript. The list can be found here (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3685632).
A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
", "keywords": ["330", "333.7 Landfl\u00e4chen", " Naturr\u00e4ume f\u00fcr Freizeit und Erholung", " Naturreservate", " Energie", "public goods", "ddc:320", "0211 other engineering and technologies", "02 engineering and technology", "SMART targets", "01 natural sciences", "7. Clean energy", "630", "Article", "12. Responsible consumption", "GF1-900", "11. Sustainability", "evidence-based policy", "ddc:630", "European Green Deal", "QH540-549.5", "agriculture", "biodiversity", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences", "2. Zero hunger", "Ecology", "ddc:333", "1. No poverty", "15. Life on land", "320", "Agronomy", "Environmental sciences", "climate change", "Human ecology. Anthropogeography", "13. Climate action", "evidence\u2010based policy", "Common Agricultural Policy"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/pan3.10080"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10080"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/People%20and%20Nature", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1002/pan3.10080", "name": "item", "description": "10.1002/pan3.10080", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1002/pan3.10080"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2020-03-08T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123141", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-06-24T16:17:14Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2024-11-07", "title": "Four approaches to setting soil health targets and thresholds in agricultural soils", "description": "Soil health is a key concept in worldwide efforts to reverse soil degradation, but to be used as a tool to improve soils, it must be definable at a policy level and quantifiable in some way. Soil indicators can be used to define soil health and quantify the degree to which soils fulfil expected functions. Indicators are assessed using target and/or threshold values, which define achievable levels of the indicators or functions. However, defining robust targets and thresholds is not a trivial task, as they should account for soil, climate, land-use, management, and history, among others. This paper introduces and discusses (through theory and stakeholder feedback) four approaches to setting targets and thresholds: fixed, reference, distribution and relative change. Three approaches (not including relative change) are then illustrated using a case study, located in Denmark, Italy, and France, which highlights key strengths and weaknesses of each approach. Finally, a framework is presented that facilitates both choosing the most appropriate target/threshold method for a given context, and using targets/thresholds to trigger follow-up actions to promote soil health.", "keywords": ["Conservation of Natural Resources", "Monitoring", "Supplementary Data", "QH301 Biology", "Denmark", "Framework", "610", "https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S030147972403127X-mmc1.docx", "[SDV.SA.SDS]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Agricultural sciences/Soil study", "01 natural sciences", "QH301", "Soil", "framework", "Soil health", "SDG 13 - Climate Action", "threshold", "Indicators", "[SDV.SA.SDS] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Agricultural sciences/Soil study", "SDG 15 - Life on Land", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences", "GE", "Targets", "soil health", "thresholds", "Agriculture", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "indicators", "monitoring", "Italy", "targets", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Thresholds", "France", "GE Environmental Sciences"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Matson, Amanda, Fantappi\u00e8, Maria, Campbell, Grant A., Miranda-V\u00e9lez, Jorge, Faber, Jack, Gomes, Lucas Carvalho, Hessel, Rudi, Lana, Marcos, Mocali, Stefano, Smith, Pete, Robinson, David, Bispo, Antonio, van Egmond, Fenny, Keesstra, Saskia, Saby, Nicolas P. A., Smreczak, Bozena, Froger, Claire, Suleymanov, Azamat, Chenu, Claire,", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123141"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Journal%20of%20Environmental%20Management", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123141", "name": "item", "description": "10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123141", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123141"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2024-12-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1080/14942119.2018.1459372", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"license": "Open Access", "updated": "2026-06-24T16:18:55Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2018-05-16", "title": "Sustainability impacts of increased forest biomass feedstock supply \u2013 a comparative assessment of technological solutions", "description": "Sustainably managed forests provide renewable raw material that can be used for primary/secondary conversion products and as biomass for energy generation. The potentially available amounts of timber, which are still lower than annual increments, have been published earlier. Access to this timber can be challenging for small-dimensioned assortments; however, technologically improved value chains can make them accessible while fulfilling economic and environment criteria. This paper evaluates the economic, environmental and social sustainability impacts of making the potentially available timber available with current and technologically improved value chains. This paper focuses on increasing the biomass feedstock supply for energy generation. Quantified impact assessments show which improvements - in terms of costs, employment, fuel and energy use, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions - can be expected if better mechanized machines are provided. Using three different methods - Sustainability Impacts Assessment (SIA), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), and Emission Saving Criteria (ESC) - we calculated current and innovative machine solutions in terms of fuel use, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions, to quantify the impact of the technology choice and also the effect of the choice of assessment method. Absolute stand-alone values can be misleading in analyses, and the use of different impact calculation approaches in parallel is clarifying the limits of using LCA-based approaches. The ESC has been discussed for the recast of the Renewable Energy Directive. Potential EU-wide results are presented.", "keywords": ["technological innovations", "ta1172", "600", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "bioenergy", "15. Life on land", "sustainability", "ta4112", "7. Clean energy", "12. Responsible consumption", "bioenergia", "teknologiset innovaatiot", "13. Climate action", "11. Sustainability", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Bioenergy", "kest\u00e4vyys", "Renewable Energy Directive targets", "value chains"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14942119.2018.1459372"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1080/14942119.2018.1459372"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/International%20Journal%20of%20Forest%20Engineering", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1080/14942119.2018.1459372", "name": "item", "description": "10.1080/14942119.2018.1459372", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1080/14942119.2018.1459372"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2018-05-04T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/ejss.13330", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-06-24T16:19:18Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2022-12-02", "title": "Multi\u2010modelling predictions show high uncertainty of required carbon input changes to reach a 4\u2030 target", "description": "AbstractSoils store vast amounts of carbon (C) on land, and increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in already managed soils such as croplands may be one way to remove C from the atmosphere, thereby limiting subsequent warming. The main objective of this study was to estimate the amount of additional C input needed to annually increase SOC stocks by 4\uffe2\uff80\uffb0 at 16 long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term agricultural experiments in Europe, including exogenous organic matter (EOM) additions. We used an ensemble of six SOC models and ran them under two configurations: (1) with default parametrization and (2) with parameters calibrated site\uffe2\uff80\uff90by\uffe2\uff80\uff90site to fit the evolution of SOC stocks in the control treatments (without EOM). We compared model simulations and analysed the factors generating variability across models. The calibrated ensemble was able to reproduce the SOC stock evolution in the unfertilised control treatments. We found that, on average, the experimental sites needed an additional 1.5 \uffc2\uffb1\uffe2\uff80\uff891.2\uffc2\uffa0Mg C ha\uffe2\uff88\uff921\uffc2\uffa0year\uffe2\uff88\uff921 to increase SOC stocks by 4\uffe2\uff80\uffb0 per year over 30\uffe2\uff80\uff89years, compared to the C input in the control treatments (multi\uffe2\uff80\uff90model median \uffc2\uffb1 median standard deviation across sites). That is, a 119% increase compared to the control. While mean annual temperature, initial SOC stocks and initial C input had a significant effect on the variability of the predicted C input in the default configuration (i.e., the relative standard deviation of the predicted C input from the mean), only water\uffe2\uff80\uff90related variables (i.e., mean annual precipitation and potential evapotranspiration) explained the divergence between models when calibrated. Our work highlights the challenge of increasing SOC stocks in agriculture and accentuates the need to increasingly lean on multi\uffe2\uff80\uff90model ensembles when predicting SOC stock trends and related processes. To increase the reliability of SOC models under future climate change, we suggest model developers to better constrain the effect of water\uffe2\uff80\uff90related variables on SOC decomposition.
Highlights
The feasibility of the 4\uffe2\uff80\uffb0 target was studied at 16 long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term agricultural experiments.
An ensemble of soil organic carbon models was used to estimate the uncertainty of the predictions.
On average across the sites, carbon input had to increase by 119% compared to initial conditions.
High uncertainty of the simulations was mainly driven by water\uffe2\uff80\uff90related variables.
Soils store vast amounts of carbon (C) on land, and increasing soil organic carbon ( SOC ) stocks in already managed soils such as croplands may be one way to remove C from the atmosphere, thereby limiting subsequent warming. The main objective of this study was to estimate the amount of additional C input needed to annually increase SOC stocks by 4\uffe2\uff80\uffb0 at 16 long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term agricultural experiments in Europe, including exogenous organic matter ( EOM ) additions. We used an ensemble of six SOC models and ran them under two configurations: (1) with default parametrization and (2) with parameters calibrated site\uffe2\uff80\uff90by\uffe2\uff80\uff90site to fit the evolution of SOC stocks in the control treatments (without EOM ). We compared model simulations and analysed the factors generating variability across models. The calibrated ensemble was able to reproduce the SOC stock evolution in the unfertilised control treatments. We found that, on average, the experimental sites needed an additional 1.5 \uffc2\uffb1\uffe2\uff80\uff891.2\uffc2\uffa0Mg C ha \uffe2\uff88\uff921 \uffc2\uffa0year \uffe2\uff88\uff921 to increase SOC stocks by 4\uffe2\uff80\uffb0 per year over 30\uffe2\uff80\uff89years, compared to the C input in the control treatments (multi\uffe2\uff80\uff90model median \uffc2\uffb1 median standard deviation across sites). That is, a 119% increase compared to the control. While mean annual temperature, initial SOC stocks and initial C input had a significant effect on the variability of the predicted C input in the default configuration (i.e., the relative standard deviation of the predicted C input from the mean), only water\uffe2\uff80\uff90related variables (i.e., mean annual precipitation and potential evapotranspiration) explained the divergence between models when calibrated. Our work highlights the challenge of increasing SOC stocks in agriculture and accentuates the need to increasingly lean on multi\uffe2\uff80\uff90model ensembles when predicting SOC stock trends and related processes. To increase the reliability of SOC models under future climate change, we suggest model developers to better constrain the effect of water\uffe2\uff80\uff90related variables on SOC decomposition. Highlights
The feasibility of the 4\uffe2\uff80\uffb0 target was studied at 16 long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term agricultural experiments.
An ensemble of soil organic carbon models was used to estimate the uncertainty of the predictions.
On average across the sites, carbon input had to increase by 119% compared to initial conditions.
High uncertainty of the simulations was mainly driven by water\uffe2\uff80\uff90related variables.
", "keywords": ["Carbon sequestration", "550", "multi-modelling", "630", "Climate change", "agriculture", "4 per 1000 initiative; agriculture; carbon sequestration; climate change; European targets; multi-modelling; soil organic carbon", "2. Zero hunger", "[SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean", "Atmosphere", "[SDU.OCEAN] Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean", " Atmosphere", "Soil organic carbon", "Agriculture", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "carbon sequestration", "[SDU.ENVI] Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces", " environment", "soil organic carbon", "climate change", "4 per 1000 initiative", "13. Climate action", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Multi-modelling", "[SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces", "environment", "European targets"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://cris.unibo.it/bitstream/11585/912997/4/European%20J%20Soil%20Science%20-%202022%20-%20Bruni%20-%20Multi%e2%80%90modelling%20predictions%20show%20high%20uncertainty%20of%20required%20carbon%20input%20changes.pdf"}, {"href": "https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/ejss.13330"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/11585/912997"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/European%20Journal%20of%20Soil%20Science", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "11585/912997", "name": "item", "description": "11585/912997", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/11585/912997"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2022-11-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "2164/24592", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-06-24T16:26:36Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2024-11-07", "title": "Four approaches to setting soil health targets and thresholds in agricultural soils", "description": "Soil health is a key concept in worldwide efforts to reverse soil degradation, but to be used as a tool to improve soils, it must be definable at a policy level and quantifiable in some way. Soil indicators can be used to define soil health and quantify the degree to which soils fulfil expected functions. Indicators are assessed using target and/or threshold values, which define achievable levels of the indicators or functions. However, defining robust targets and thresholds is not a trivial task, as they should account for soil, climate, land-use, management, and history, among others. This paper introduces and discusses (through theory and stakeholder feedback) four approaches to setting targets and thresholds: fixed, reference, distribution and relative change. Three approaches (not including relative change) are then illustrated using a case study, located in Denmark, Italy, and France, which highlights key strengths and weaknesses of each approach. Finally, a framework is presented that facilitates both choosing the most appropriate target/threshold method for a given context, and using targets/thresholds to trigger follow-up actions to promote soil health.", "keywords": ["Conservation of Natural Resources", "Monitoring", "Supplementary Data", "QH301 Biology", "Denmark", "Framework", "610", "https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S030147972403127X-mmc1.docx", "[SDV.SA.SDS]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Agricultural sciences/Soil study", "01 natural sciences", "QH301", "Soil", "framework", "Soil health", "SDG 13 - Climate Action", "threshold", "Indicators", "[SDV.SA.SDS] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Agricultural sciences/Soil study", "SDG 15 - Life on Land", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences", "GE", "Targets", "soil health", "thresholds", "Agriculture", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "indicators", "monitoring", "Italy", "targets", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Thresholds", "France", "GE Environmental Sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/2164/24592"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Journal%20of%20Environmental%20Management", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "2164/24592", "name": "item", "description": "2164/24592", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/2164/24592"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2024-12-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "39341238", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-06-24T16:27:38Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2024-02-14", "title": "European Croplands Under Climate Change: Carbon Input Changes Required to Increase Projected Soil Organic Carbon Stocks", "description": "Increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in agricultural systems is a pivotal strategy for promoting soil health and mitigating climate change. Global initiatives have set ambitious targets, aspiring to achieve an annual SOC stock increase of 4\u00a0\u2030. In the European Union, the recently approved Nature Restoration Law aims to increase SOC stock trends in the top 30\u00a0cm of cropland mineral soils. However, current monitoring and reporting practices in some countries rely on simplistic SOC models with default parameters, which may not provide reliable predictions. In this paper, we study the feasibility of a 4\u00a0\u2030 target in European croplands (i.e., an aspirational target proposed by The international '4 per 1000' Initiative), through estimations of required C input changes. To ensure robust predictions, we propose a novel calibration approach that links model parameters to pedo-climatic variables via statistical relationships from 16 long-term experiments. The effectiveness of the method is evaluated for three SOC models across 4281 sites from the European LUCAS soil survey. Our findings demonstrate that the statistical calibration of the multi-model ensemble improves the accuracy of 2015 and 2018 SOC stock predictions, compared to default parameterization. This improvement was however mainly due to the substantial enhancement of one of the models. According to the weighted multi-model mean, median C input changes to reach a 4\u00a0\u2030 target for Northern, Central, and Southern Europe stand at 1.85, 1.20, and 0.13\u00a0Mg\u00a0C\u00a0ha-1\u00a0yr-1 under RCP 2.6, and 2.21, 1.26, and -0.10\u00a0Mg\u00a0C\u00a0ha-1\u00a0yr-1 under RCP 6.0, respectively. To achieve the aspirational 4\u00a0\u2030 target, estimated C input change requirements exceed the predicted changes in net primary productivity under RCP 2.6 and RCP 6.0. 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