Accelerating Soils Regeneration with the World Living Soils Forum

Collaboration is essential in addressing the urgent issues facing our planet. At ChangeNOW, we work to unite diverse actors across various sectors to create powerful accelerators for change that can drive meaningful progress.

This was our mission when we joined forces with Moët Hennessy to co-organize the 2024 edition of the World Living Soils Forum: accelerating soil preservation and regeneration solutions.

 

The urgent need for soil regeneration and preservation

In the global discussion around the climate urgency, soils are often overlooked despite their essential role in maintaining a livable planet. Agriculture, water resources, biodiversity, and even climate change itself are dependent on soil health. Yet, more than 40% of soils on the planet are currently degraded. 

Although this degradation puts in jeopardy the entire ecosystem, it first impacts the agricultural sector. Companies in the food and beverage industry are therefore not only directly affected, but also have a duty to regenerate soils. Conscious of their role, Moët Hennessy launched in 2022 the World Living Soils Forum. They seeked to tackle these challenges by addressing the specific issues around soil preservation and soil regeneration.

Santiago Lefebvre (Left) and Sandrine Sommer (Right) at the World Living Soils Forum introductory speech

An international event dedicated to one topic: soils

In 2024, ChangeNOW joined forces with Moët Hennessy to co-organize the Forum and helped take it to the next level. The main event took place in Arles, France, alongside 2 satellite events in Ningxia, China and California, USA. With over 70 sessions, 164 speakers, 20 moderators, and 600 changemakers in attendance, the 2-day event was a resounding success!

“By joining forces, Moët Hennessy and ChangeNOW will help accelerate solutions that have an impact on soil health. This partnership reinforces our ambition to highlight the most promising initiatives and technological advances in the field of soil regeneration.”

— Sandrine Sommer, Chief Sustainability Officer at Moët Hennessy 

Gathering changemakers from around the world

In order to accelerate and scale up regenerative agriculture, Moët Hennessy and ChangeNOW united their communities of changemakers. With even more farmers, companies, solutions, investors, ecosystem actors, the event was truly a hub for those who put soil at the heart of their work. Beyond a think tank about soil, the Forum was a do tank aimed at providing pragmatic approaches, insights gathered from personal experiences and soil regenerative solutions for those working with soils.

More than ever, the event echoed internationally as actors from all over the world joined in France, the USA and China to share their best practices on regenerative agriculture.

“There are too many conferences, too many events, but this is one of those few where you think, yes, this was worth the effort. ‘Everyone’ in Europe’s discussion on soils and regeneration was there.”

— Meghan Sapp, EARA, European Alliance for Regenerative Agriculture

Putting the spotlight on soil regeneration and preservation solutions

Solutions have always been at the heart of what we do at ChangeNOW. That’s why we brought our expertise to Moët Hennessy to strengthen the share of voice of Solutions in the Forum. Thus, itgave them and other attendees opportunity to create more connections and synergies.

23 innovative startups were selected to pitch at the Forum by the ChangeNOW Solutions Team and a jury of professionals from Moët Hennessy and LVMH, and one ‘coup de coeur’ was chosen to win:

  • a spot to exhibit at the Soil Hub at ChangeNOW 2025, and support from our Solutions team
  • dedicated support from a Moët Hennessy expert
  • inclusion in LVMH’s La Maison Des Startups’ 2025 acceleration program

The goal was to give greater visibility to soil regenerative solutions, whether in case studies or as pitchers on stage. And after an intense session of pitches with fascinating solutions, the special prize was awarded to EF Polymer for their work on water scarcity issues in the agricultural sector.

Collaborations to drive change at scale

The World Living Soils Forum was about accelerating change. By bringing ChangeNOW and Moët Hennessy together to organize the second edition, we turned the event into a global platform for action at scale. We helped bring together diverse communities from around the world, uniting experts, innovators, and changemakers to accelerate soil preservation and regenerative agriculture. 

This collaboration further demonstrated our ability to unite global communities around the world’s most pressing issues, working with our partner foster connections with innovators and turn ideas into tangible results.

During this second edition, we launched a call for collective action to mobilize even more stakeholders around the need to preserve and regenerate soils. This text, conceived and written with the support of the WLSF’s external Advisory Board, recalls the challenges of soil health and details possible courses of action and commitment for all stakeholders. We invite farmers and field actors, businesses and economic actors, scientists, institutions, education and training stakeholders, media, NGOs, and citizens to join the movement by signing the call et work together on these issues.

Together, we’re driving the kind of progress that makes a real difference for the future of our planet. 

Learn more about regenerative agriculture and soils preservation by checking these contents:

  • Check out the World Living Soils Report ici
  • Read the key insights from ChangeNOW 2024 on sustainable soil management for a resilient future ici.
  • Watch the talks on regenerative agriculture from the past editions of the ChangeNOW summit on our page for replays.
  • Watch the World Living Soils Forum sessions on their replay page.

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