Soil is an important carbon stock – it stores three times as much carbon as the atmosphere. If the carbon in soil rose by just 0.4% per year, it would be enough to halt the increase in CO2 concentration in the atmosphere related to human activities. It could reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by 4.76 gigatons. 40% of the world’s soil is now degraded, reducing agricultural resilience and productivity. Boosting soil carbon is relatively easy through low-tech sustainable agricultural practices. These measures not only help fight climate change, but increase biodiversity and food security. Improving soil on American croplands has the potential to mitigate 25 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions—equivalent to taking 5 million passenger cars off the road for one year. Soil health is part a broader suite of ‘natural climate solutions’.