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Unsustainable agricultural methods have caused the planet's soil to release up to 70% of its carbon into the atmosphere -- and scientists say that restoring soil conditions might help to reabsorb that carbon and slow climate change. "If we treat soil carbon as a renewable resource, we can change the dynamics," says carbon-cycle expert Thomas Goreau

According to a study by researchers with Dartmouth College that was published in the journal Global Change Biology Bioenergy last September, however, the carbon stored in mineral soils, which lie underneath the organic soil layer, is released for decades after a forest is cut down.

Kudzu, the invasive plant spreading across the southern U.S. at a rate of more than 120,000 acres a year, is drawing huge amounts of carbon out of the soil as it grows, researchers say. Kudzu-infested forests give up as much as a third of their soil-sequestered carbon, totaling up to 4.8 million tons of carbon a year

Recent studies show that the soil in organic farms is up to 44% more effective at trapping carbon that conventionally farmed soil. This discovery is just one of many reasons the UN Food and Agriculture Organization is calling on the world to embrace more sustainable farming practices

Fazenda da Toca, a private enterprise in São Paulo, is demonstrating the viability of large scale organic farming and agroforestry, including on land with highly degraded soils. Toca could effectively end the myth that agroforestry is not viable at a large scale, that it's too expensive and too labor intensive to be attractive to the private sector.

More businesses accept that they should account for water, fertile soil, forests, air and more. Far fewer are naming a price for these resources.

More businesses accept that they should account for water, fertile soil, forests, air and more. Far fewer are naming a price for these resources.

A biogas process being used in Turkey reduces plant operations while providing potato farmers with more sustainable soil nutrients.

After months of consultation with stakeholders, the Natural Capital Coalition has published the first draft of a suggested framework to help businesses account for the value of natural resources such as water, soil, forests and even clean air in strategic decision-making.

Genetically modified crops are making it easier for farmers to embrace low-till agricultural strategies, proponents say. The precise impact of GM crops is hard to quantify, however, with some analyses suggesting that farmers in the U.S. aren't changing their tilling habits

Investing in natural capital such as water, soils and biodiversity limits risk and can drive profitability, leading companies say.

But this success story has been underscored by a tense struggle over water, which Dow needs to keep production afloat, and which is in short supply in Texas amid the state's debilitating drought and its water users' increasing thirst. When Dow Chemical, one of the largest manufacturers of chemicals and plastics in the world, announced a multibillion-dollar expansion on Texas' Gulf Coast last summer, Gov. Rick Perry had yet another example to add to his list of explosive economic growth on Texas soil.

General Motors began composting food scraps at its global headquarters, working with a local company to transform the waste into gardening soil. The company expects to collect 51,000 tons of food scraps by the end of 2014.

Climate negotiators in Paris are warming to the idea of "carbon farming," or sequestering carbon in soil. That's a critical adjunct to curbing emissions, since it allows the active removal of existing atmospheric carbon, experts say. "This is a game changer," said Andre Leu, president of IFOAM -- Organics International

P&G has pledged to embrace recycling and reclamation processes for about 5 billion liters of the water it uses annually for manufacturing, which amounts to about 10 percent of current consumption. The company is also ramping up its plans to tackle another area for which there are few solutions today: developing and scaling the recycling infrastructure for soiled disposable baby diapers, feminine sanitary napkins and adult incontinence napkins.

Environmental risks, which have grown in prominence over the 13-year history of the Global Risks Report, are an area of particular concern. The Global Risks Report 2018 looks at five categories of environmental risks: extreme weather events and temperatures; accelerating biodiversity loss; pollution of air, soil and water; failures of climate change mitigation and adaptation; and risks linked to the transition to low carbon. All of these risks ranked highly on both dimensions of likelihood and impact.

The organizations cite research undertaken by universities, government agencies, laboratories, plastic trade associations and NGOs that have concluded oxo-degradable plastics are not suited for long-term reuse, recycling or composting. Instead, evidence has shown that these plastics often fragment into small pieces often not visible to the naked eye; those microplastic particles in turn often end up in both soil and oceans.

In June, C&A, the international Dutch chain of retail clothing stores, launched a line of T-shirts certified to the Cradle to Cradle standard, meaning that they were designed and manufactured in a way that is benign to the environment and human health, and whose materials can be recirculated safely back into industrial materials or composted into the soil.

France's government has unveiled a law to ban all production and exploration of oil and natural gas by 2040 on the country's mainland and overseas territories. The move is largely symbolic, however, as France's oil and gas production represents just 1 percent of national consumption - the rest is imported. The ban, which the government claims is a world first, is part of a larger plan to wean the country's economy from fossil fuels, encourage clean energy and fulfill France's commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement to curb global warming.