Why keeping soils healthy matters

Life depends on healthy soils

Soils are the foundation for life on Earth. People, plants and animals all need healthy soils to survive and thrive.

Some of the vital benefits provided by soils include:

healthy food and clean water
habitats for biodiversity
capture of carbon dioxideand other greenhouse gases, which helps fight climate change

Healthy soils naturally store CO₂ and other greenhouse gases. In fact, soils represent the largest terrestrial carbon pool on the planet – this means they store the largest amount of greenhouse gases compared to other natural elements, such as trees.

However, today up to 70% of soils in the EU are not in good condition. EU measures aim to reduce pollution and soil degradation.

EU policy initiatives on soil

The EU policy on soil health is grounded in the zero pollution goal set by the European Commission in 2021: soil pollution – as well as water and air pollution – should be reduced to levels no longer considered harmful to human health and natural ecosystems by 2050.

Zero pollution action plan (European Commission)

Soil strategy for 2030

In 2021, the European Commission launched the soil strategy for 2030, in line with the zero pollution goal.

The goals of the strategy, to be reached by 2050, are to:

make all soils in the EU healthy and more resilient
protect and restore soils and ensure they are used sustainably
reduce soil pollution

The strategy recognised that the lack of specific EU legislation on soils has been a major cause of soil degradation in the EU. This is why the Commission included in the strategy a proposal for new legislation on soil – the soil monitoring law.

Soil strategy for 2030 (European Commission)

Soil monitoring law

The Commission released a proposal for a soil monitoring law in 2023. The soil monitoring directive, if adopted by both EU co-legislators (the Council and the European Parliament), would be the first EU piece of legislation to focus on soil health. The ambitious long-term objective of the directive is to achieve healthy soils by 2050.

The directive’s goal is to set up a health monitoring framework for all soils to improve resilience and manage the risks of contaminated sites.

The Council has agreed on a ‘general approach’ for the proposal in June 2024. Talks with the European Parliament on the final shape of the legislation were launched in autumn 2024 and resulted in a provisional agreement reached in April 2025. This agreement needs to be confirmed by both institutions.

Soil monitoring law: Council reaches deal with Parliament (press release, 10 April 2025)

Other policies concerning soils

Several EU pieces of legislation concern soil protection. Although these laws may not include specific provisions on soil protection, they indirectly tackle the health of soils by setting out environmental measures and goals.

These include the nature restoration law, the industrial emissions directive, the common agricultural policy and measures on sewage, fertilisers and environmental liability.