As COP29 continues to unfold, one slogan, "In Solidarity for a Green World," highlights a glaring gap in global climate strategy. Internationally renowned yogi Sadhguru, founder of the Isha Foundation and the campaign Conscious Planet - Save Soil, underscores this, saying, "Achieving a truly green world is impossible if we ignore soil health." His call to action reflects an urgent need to reconsider how climate finance is allocated and the priorities it serves.

For years, the climate negotiations have focused on the need to cut emissions, especially hydrocarbon emissions. Yet despite the emphasis, renewable energy accounts for just 3% of global energy supply, while fossil fuels continue to dominate, supported by $7 trillion in annual government subsidies. Meanwhile, the climate finance gap remains at least $1 trillion annually and the longer action is delayed, the higher the cost..

Sadhguru warns that while transitioning away from hydrocarbons may be necessary, an overemphasis on this aspect risks side-lining broader and equally urgent challenges, such as biodiversity loss and climate resilience. This is especially true when many petrostates, dependent as they are on oil and gas revenues, are unwilling to address the problem. Many technological solutions, while innovative, often lack the scalability and immediate impact needed to address the climate crisis in the time left to us.

Instead, he argues for prioritizing transformative, scalable solutions -- like improving soil health. Soil is foundational to carbon sequestration, biodiversity, water retention, and food security, making it an essential pillar for sustainable development. As Sadhguru puts it, "It's time to shift global climate strategy from oil to soil."

Soil, the planet's largest living ecosystem, is home to trillions of microorganisms essential for supporting plant life, sequestering carbon, and recycling nutrients critical for human survival. The FAO estimates that more than 25% of global biodiversity resides in soil, with a single teaspoon containing up to six billion microorganisms.

However, decades of industrial farming practices have depleted soils of organic matter, decimating microbial life and diminishing their ability to absorb carbon. Monocropping and chemical-intensive methods have further exacerbated soil degradation, with the UN predicting as few as 40 to 50 harvests remaining in certain areas if agricultural practices don't change.

Plants, through photosynthesis, are the original carbon capture and storage system. However, global photosynthesis rates have declined by an estimated 85% in recent decades. Forests, wetlands, and grasslands have been cleared at an alarming rate for agriculture, industry, and urbanization. This trend has drastically reduced the planet's ability to absorb atmospheric carbon, accelerating climate change. In fact some analysis suggests that 2023 saw land and trees absorbing almost no CO2 at all.

Research suggests that with the right approach, farmlands could address an amazing 27% of global CO2 sequestration needs. In Europe alone however, intensive agricultural practices have left 60-70% of soils degraded, jeopardising the EU's climate action, biodiversity, and food security targets. Degraded soils contribute to biodiversity loss, weakened crop yields, and declining food nutrition through lack of micronutrients in the soil.

The biggest concern however is that such degraded soils lose their ability to sequester carbon. In fact, new data from the Save Soil movement has revealed how if soil degradation continues unchecked, soils may not only stop serving as carbon sinks but could also begin releasing stored carbon. In fact, the research shows that if European soils emitted just 1% of their carbon, this would be equivalent to the annual emissions of one billion cars.

Regenerative agriculture offers a pathway to reverse soil degradation. Practices such as no-till farming and crop rotation have reduced emissions from untilled soils by 51% while cutting fertilizer-related emissions by 80%. These methods also increase crop productivity, reduce farmers' input costs, and build resilience against climate shocks.

However, farmers often face barriers to adopting regenerative practices, particularly the long gap between investment and return. To drive widespread adoption, policymakers must support farmers through targeted climate finance initiatives.

There is an opportunity here for climate finance to be of benefit to smallholder farmers especially. They produce a third of the world's food and represent 54% of the global population, yet receive less than 1% of climate funding. This imbalance presents an opportunity to channel resources toward those who can enact the greatest change.

The benefits in terms of the scale of investment are immense. At COP29, Michelle Kagari, senior director at One Acre Fund proposed a 3x increase of investment of $300 per smallholder farmer per year to enable a more climate resilient food system. She said that recent calculations indicated that $151 billion is what's needed to bridge the gap between the climate finance smallholders are currently receiving, and the amount required to help them live with the impact of climate change. While that investment could generate more than 3x return, it is also an incredibly small amount for the transformation of agricultural practices.

A recent UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) report estimated that $12.7 trillion -- over 10% of global GDP -- is lost annually due to the environmental and social costs of current agri-food systems. Redirecting climate finance toward sustainable soil management could mitigate these losses while fostering resilience in food systems.

And there are increasing calls for action. With 40% of global land already degraded and projections that 90% of topsoil is at risk of degradation by 2050, 78 leading NGOs, including Save Soil, 4per1000, and SEKEM have called for climate finance to support regenerative agroecology. That means a variety of agriculture practices like regenerative agriculture, agroecology, and sustainable soil management systems - that increase organic matter and life in agricultural soils.

Regenerative agroecology, supported by climate finance, can enhance biodiversity, sequester carbon, restore ecosystems, and bolster food security as well as contribute to global climate resilience. Most importantly, it won't rely on a technological 'moonshot' but rather a fundamental change in practice.

Sadhguru emphasizes the need for a paradigm shift: "The transition from an oil-first to a soil-first climate strategy is not only necessary but achievable." Soil health underpins global food systems, biodiversity, and carbon storage. By restoring and preserving this vital resource, humanity can mitigate climate change and ensure a sustainable future.

The journey from oil to soil represents a chance to align economy and ecology. As Anand Ethirajalu, Project Director of Save Soil's initiatives explains, the recommendations are "a marriage between economy and ecology. Whilst tree and animal integrated regenerative agriculture practices increase soil quality, they also enhance crop productivity and increase farmers' net income. Once they complete the transition, their requirement to purchase farm inputs from the market reduces, resulting in less cultivation costs and higher net income. These practices also create resilience in the soil to withstand climate shocks, and poly-cropping systems de-risk farmers from market risks."

Transitioning from an "oil-first" to a "soil-first" approach in our climate strategy could be the key to averting future climate disasters. Soil health is at the foundation of our food systems, biodiversity, and carbon storage capabilities, making it indispensable in the fight against climate change. The time to act is now, as the foundation of a greener world lies not beneath oil rigs but beneath our feet.