Soil organic carbon stocks
Measurement answer
What this metric measures
Reports the total stock of organic carbon stored in soil, expressed in metric tonnes of carbon.
Specification
Metric specification
- Result format
- Single value
- Unit
- tC — source-defined reporting unit
- Reporting basis
- Reporting period for which soil organic carbon stocks are assessed
- Aggregation
- Total soil organic carbon stock within the disclosed soil assessment boundary
- Pillar
- Environmental
- Topic
- State of nature: ecosystem condition
- Controlled domain
- Nature, biodiversity and land
- Entity type
- Metric
Reporting boundary
Soils within the reporting organization's disclosed assessment boundary
Verified source occurrences
Framework coverage
This is one canonical metric. The bindings below show every verified framework occurrence without creating duplicate metric pages. Edition, disclosure, role, and relationship remain source-specific.
- Adopting DisclosureSource evidence
TNFD sector guidance
- Publisher
- Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures
- Edition
- Final English sector guidance collection through August 2026 (17 documents)
- Requirement
- Not Specified
- Relationship
- Defines Disclosure
- Mapping outcome
- Direct Evidence
- Source locator
- Food and agriculture Version 1.0 (June 2024), p. 78, Additional sector metrics table; State of nature: Ecosystem condition
- Adopting DisclosureFA.A5.7
TNFD sector guidance
- Publisher
- Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures
- Edition
- Version 1.0, June 2024
- Requirement
- Recommended
- Relationship
- Maps Source Identity
- Mapping outcome
- Published
- Source locator
- Food and agriculture Version 1.0 (June 2024), p. 78, Additional sector metrics table; State of nature: Ecosystem condition
Value structure
Dimensions and units
- Unit
- tC — source-defined reporting unit
- Reporting basis
- Reporting period for which soil organic carbon stocks are assessed
Unit meaning: Values use tC under the disclosed TNFD sector-guidance method, reporting period and boundary.
Published dimensions
- soil sampling location or assessment unit
- soil depth or layer where assessed
- ecosystem or land-use context where disclosed
- value-chain or operational boundary where disclosed
Calculation method
Formula information
- Status
- Specified
- Formula type
- Other
Formula
SOC_total = total reported soil organic carbon stock within the disclosed soil boundaryApply the source-defined TNFD sector-guidance method within the stated reporting boundary. The Food and agriculture additional sector metric is a standalone stock outcome with an explicit tC unit. It is distinct from carbon footprint, product carbon storage and emissions-to-soil metrics in the shortlist.
Variables
| Symbol | Variable | Definition | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
SOC_total | total soil organic carbon stock | Total quantity of organic carbon stored in soil within the disclosed assessment boundary. | tC |
Verified sources
Evidence and status sources
Sustopedia checked each record-specific claim directly against primary publisher material. Labels distinguish current measurement authority from future compatibility and corroborative, legal, edition, or method status context. Corroborative evidence can support a stated limitation but cannot establish the core measurement by itself.
Measurement evidence
- Measurement evidenceChecked 30 August 2026
TNFD additional sector guidance collection
- Publisher
- Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures
- Edition
- Final English sector guidance collection through August 2026 (17 documents)
- Locator
- Food and agriculture Version 1.0 (June 2024), p. 78, Additional sector metrics table; State of nature: Ecosystem condition
Supports: The official TNFD sector guidance supports the identity, boundary and method basis of “Soil organic carbon stocks”.
Open official source
Use with context
Interpretation boundaries
Method disclosures required
Source-edition basis: TNFD sector guidance, Final English sector guidance collection through August 2026 (17 documents).
- Disclose the soil boundary, including sampling locations or assessment units and soil depth or layer.
- Disclose the method used to determine or estimate soil organic carbon stock.
- Disclose the organizational, operational and geographic boundary assessed.
- Disclose the aggregation approach used to derive the reported total.
- Disclose whether the reported value is measured, modelled or combined from measured and modelled inputs.
Record-specific limitations
- The extracted specification identifies total soil organic carbon stock but does not prescribe a common sampling depth, stock-estimation method, spatial extent or temporal baseline.
- Comparability depends on disclosed soil depth, bulk-density and carbon-concentration methods where these are used to estimate stocks.
- The metric is expressed in tonnes of carbon and is not a greenhouse-gas emissions or carbon-dioxide-equivalent metric.
Interpret this metric with the stated reporting boundary, period convention, value shape, and unit. Results prepared with different boundaries or conventions may not be directly comparable.
Measurement evidence supports the core record-specific claims described above. Corroborative evidence can support limitations, while compatibility and status sources provide their separately labelled context. None of these cards by itself determines an organisation's legal applicability, filing readiness, assurance status, or compliance conclusion.