Healthy soils are essential for achieving climate neutrality, a clean and circular economy and stopping desertification and land degradation. They are also essential to reverse biodiversity loss, provide healthy food and safeguard human health.

The EU soil strategy for 2030 provides the framework and concrete steps towards protecting and restoring soils, and ensuring that they are used sustainably. As part of this, a new Soil Health Law has been proposed to ensure a level playing field and a high level of environmental and health protection.

It is a key deliverable of the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 and will contribute to the objectives of the European Green Deal.
Background
Over 60% of European soils are unhealthy and scientific evidence shows that soils are further degrading due to unsustainable management of the land, sealing, contamination and overexploitation, combined with the impact from climate change and extreme weather events.

Degraded soils reduce the provision of ecosystem services such as food, feed, fibre, timbre, nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, pest control or water regulation. The loss of these essential soil ecosystem services costs the EU at least 50 billion euro per year.

Objectives
The new law aims to address key soil threats in the EU, such as erosion, floods and landslides, loss of soil organic matter, salinisation, contamination, compaction, sealing, as well as loss of soil biodiversity.

Law
The new Soil Monitoring Law provides a legal framework to help achieve healthy soils by 2050. It will do so by

putting in place a solid and coherent monitoring framework for all soils across the EU so Member States can take measures to regenerate degraded soils
making sustainable soil management the norm in the EU. Member States will have to define which practices should be implemented by soil managers and which should be banned because they cause soil degradation
requesting Member States to identify potentially contaminated sites, investigate these sites and address unacceptable risks for human health and the environment, thereby contributing to a toxic-free environment by 2050.
Timeline
Previous and upcoming actions:

5 July 2023
Commission adopts proposal for a Soil Monitoring Law
1 August - 24 October 2022
Public consultation on the possible Soil Monitoring Law
Share your views in the public consultation

16 February - 16 March 2022
Call for evidence ahead of upcoming possible legal provisions mentioned in the Soil Strategy
Contribute to the call for evidence

17 November 2021
Commission adopts EU Soil Strategy for 2030
Publications
Proposal for a Directive - COM(2023) 416

Impact Assessment Report - SWD(2023) 417

Executive Summary of the Impact Assessment Report - SWD(2023) 418

Guidance on EU Funding Opportunities for Healthy Soils - SWD(2023) 423

Communication on Sustainable Use of Natural Resources

Related links
Related strategies

EU soil strategy for 2030
EU soil thematic strategy (2006)
Circular economy action plan
EU biodiversity strategy for 2030
Zero pollution action plan
Farm to fork strategy
Forest strategy

Related laws

Nature restoration law
Environmental Liability Directive
Industrial Emissions Directive
Environmental Impact Assessment Directive
Sewage Sludge Directive
Regulation on fertilisers
Mercury Regulation
Land use, land use change and forestry Regulation (LULUCF)
Common Agriculture Policy (CAP)
Other related links

EUSO Soil Health Dashboard