Producing biofuels is just one way of realizing the carbon benefit of land, i.e., its capacity to remove carbon from the atmosphere. Used alternatively to grow forest, land sequesters carbon in tree trunks and soil. Using forest lands for biofuels foregoes ongoing sequestration in trees, releases most or all of the carbon in standing vegetation and much of the carbon in soils. Used to grow grasses, land sequesters carbon in the soil, which provides an immediate global warming benefit. Nearly all grasslands also provide forage for cows, sheep or goats, which feed us, which is also true of land used to grow crops, which transforms atmospheric carbon into carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Feeding us is also a carbon benefit, and if lands that now feed us are diverted to other uses, we have to generate that carbon elsewhere – on other forest or grassland – sacrificing that other land’s alternative carbon benefits.

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Gleby pełnią niezwykle ważną rolę w produkcji żywności dla rosnącej populacji ludzkiej. Jednocześnie gleby wpływają na klimat poprzez usuwanie z atmosfery nadmiaru dwutlenku węgla i udział w obiegu gazów cieplarnianych