August 6, 2025.4 minutes

Scaling regenerative agriculture through Article 6: A climate and sustainability imperative

Simon Schultheis

Under the Paris Agreement’s Article 6, countries and businesses have a powerful framework to cooperate on climate action through international carbon markets and finance. The intent is to channel investment into emission reductions and removals worldwide, wherever they can be achieved most cost-effectively, while promoting sustainable development. So far, however, most Article 6 efforts have gravitated toward familiar territory: renewable energy projects, energy efficiency, and electrification initiatives, with the former the most common category, with more than 350 projects out of about 1,000 submitted activities. From solar farms to wind turbines and grid electrification, these initiatives dominate the pipeline.

Yes, clean energy transition is vital. However, this focus exposes a critical blind spot. Nature-based solutions, particularly those involving agriculture and soil, are largely missing from the Article 6 portfolio. In the rush to deploy solar panels and electric buses, we risk overlooking the carbon sink right beneath our feet: the soil. Article 6 cooperation is meant to “increase climate ambition, promote sustainable development, and safeguard environmental integrity”. To truly fulfill that vision, regenerative agriculture and soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration must be brought into the fold as credible, high-impact mitigation pathways. Business leaders, governments, and carbon credit buyers should recognise that scaling regenerative agriculture via Article 6 is not only possible, but essential to meet our climate and sustainability goals.

The omission of soil-based solutions in carbon market mechanisms is not new. Under the old Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism, projects in agriculture were rare. History seems to be repeating: early Article 6 transactions and proposals have overwhelmingly targeted the energy sector, with very few aimed at improving land management or farming practices. The UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre’s tracker reveals that while hundreds of renewable energy projects have lined up for Article 6.4 crediting, activities in sustainable agriculture or soil carbon are conspicuously scarce. Similarly, bilateral deals under Article 6.2 have so far focused on clean power, transport, and industrial gases, rather than farms and fields.

Why the lack of soil-carbon projects? Part of the problem is perception. Some policymakers question whether agricultural soils should count toward mitigation targets at all, querying the feasibility of measurement and viewing the sector as too vital for food to constrain, from a perception of transition-period yield dips and specific carbon crops as compromising the food supply. There’s also a hangover of caution from controversies in land-based offsets like forestry. Concerns about integrity risk unfairly sideline the entire land sector. But these hesitations are being overcome. In fact, the vast majority of countries affirm support for sustainable agriculture in their Paris pledges, yet only a minority set explicit targets for soil carbon or farming emissions. This gap between ambition and action is precisely what Article 6 can address. With robust methodologies and safeguards now emerging for soil carbon projects, the stage is set to move beyond pilots and integrate regenerative agriculture into international carbon markets. The window of opportunity is open and we cannot afford to let outdated biases or technical anxieties keep it shut.

Soils represent one of the biggest and most immediate climate opportunities. According to the IPCC, soil carbon sequestration is responsible for up to 89% of the technical mitigation potential in agriculture, far more than any other measure in the sector. Practices like cover cropping, agroforestry, reduced or no-till, improved grazing, and compost application can draw gigatons of CO₂ from the atmosphere while restoring soil health. Recent estimates suggest that improving cropland and grassland soil management could sequester on the order of 3-6 GtCO₂ per year globally. This is a mitigation wedge on par with decarbonising the entire transport sector, yet it remains largely on the sidelines. Indeed, climate models and policymakers have so far “limited inclusion of soil carbon sequestration as a response option” despite its significant potential.

Importantly, soil-based mitigation is ready to scale now. The IPCC finds that soil carbon improvements are a low-cost, high-readiness option...

Simon Schultheis

Regulatory and Standards Affairs Specialist

Simon Schultheis holds an MSc in Environmental Management and Policy from Lund University. Earlier in his career he worked as an archaeologist in cultural resource management consulting and research in the United States helping private sector developers comply with tribal, state and federal cultural and environmental regulation. While completing postgraduate studies he began advising companies on carbon accounting, carbon markets and environmental regulation, building tools and guidance for manufacturers and early stage carbon projects across Europe and Africa. Simon joined Agreena in Copenhagen in 2023 and is currently the Regulatory and Standards Affairs Specialist where he leads regulatory and standards alignment and advocacy for Agreena’s carbon market, supply chain and farmer programmes. Simon has a long held passion for food and food systems, rooted in many years spent working within kitchens and hospitality during his undergraduate days.

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