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Environment

Soil Strategy for 2030

Reaping the benefits of healthy soils for people, food, nature and climate.

Overview

The EU Soil Strategy for 2030 is centred on harnessing the numerous benefits that healthy soils provide, which are vital for human well-being: sustainable food production, biodiversity and climate resilience. 

By prioritising soil health, we aim to ensure a thriving ecosystem that supports the needs of people, nature, and the environment alike.

The strategy outlines our commitment to fostering sustainable soil management practices, restoring degraded soils, and mobilising resources to achieve long-term soil health for the prosperity of future generations. 

Through this comprehensive approach, the EU seeks to create a harmonious balance between human activities and the natural world, ensuring a sustainable future for all.

Objectives

The EU Soil Strategy is designed to achieve the following goals by 2050:

  1. Ensure that all EU soil ecosystems are healthy and more resilient, enabling them to continue delivering essential services.
  2. Achieve no net land take and reduce soil pollution to levels healthy for humans and ecosystems.
  3. Establish the protection of soils, sustainable management practices, and restoration of degraded soils as common EU standards.

Actions

The strategy contains several key actions, ultimately aimed at achieving optimal soil health by 2050. These include:-

  1. Developing a dedicated legislative proposal on soil health by 2025 (see Soil Monitoring Law).
  2. Promoting sustainable soil management as standard practice through a program that allows landowners to have their soils tested at no cost, and sharing best practices.
  3. Restoring managed and drained peatlands to address and adapt to climate change.
  4. Evaluating the need for a legally binding “soil passport” to foster a circular economy and enhance the reuse of clean soil.
  5. Developing a common methodology to assess desertification and land degradation.
  6. Increasing research, data collection, and monitoring efforts through societal engagement and mobilisation of financial resources.

Timeline

Previous and upcoming actions:

  1. 16 December 2031
    First reporting deadline

    Member States must submit their first report to the Commission on the implementation and assessment of soil health

  2. 16 December 2028
    National transposition deadline

    EU Member States must transpose the Directive's provisions into their national law

  3. 16 December 2025
    Soil Monitoring Law enters into force
  4. 23 Oct 2025
    Parliament approves final text
  5. 29 September 2025
    Council approves Soil Monitoring Law
  6. 10 April 2025
    Council and Parliament reach provisional agreement
  7. 5 July 2023
    Commission adopts proposal on Soil Monitoring Law
  8. 1 Aug-24 Oct 2022
    Public consultation on Soil Health Law

    See public consultation

  9. 16 Feb-16 March 2022
    Call for evidence ahead of legal provisions mentioned in the Soil Strategy

    See call for evidence

  11. 17 November 2021
    Commission adopts EU Soil Strategy for 2030

Related links

Contact

For questions about EU environmental policy, please contact Europe Direct.