The last two decades have witnessed a groundswell of research aimed at improving understanding of the impact of global changes on biodiversity and ecosystem function, and on management strategies to mitigate them. Whilst this topic has received much attention, scientists have only recently become aware that understanding the consequences of global change for ecosystem functioning requires consideration of interactions between plant and soil communities. This is because the impact of global changes on the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems is often indirect: they operate via changes aboveground that cascade to the soil biological community, which drives biogeochemical processes and feedbacks to the Earth’s climate system. In this talk, I will discuss recent research that shows how a plant trait-based approach can be used to improve understanding of the consequences of global change for soil processes that underpin the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems, with a special focus on the carbon cycle.