£22m fund launched to restore peatlands that could help climate fight

Scottish peatlands should be capable of capturing the equivalent of up to 140 years of the country’s carbon emissions, writes Emily Goddard

A wetland area forming peat (Getty/iStock)

The Scottish government is encouraging farmers and landowners to apply for grants from a £22m fund for restoring peatlands, which can help capture carbon.

Up to a quarter of Scotland, about 1.7 million hectares, is covered in peat soil which could capture and store up to 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon – the equivalent of up to 140 years of the country’s emissions.

But 80 per cent of the peatland is believed to be in need of restoration to halt the release of emissions.

Farmers, landowners and land managers can now access the peatland restoration fund, and large-scale schemes over multiple years are to be considered for the first time.

The move forms the second phase of a 10-year £250m project to restore Scotland’s peatland.

More than 25,000 hectares of degraded peatland habitat have benefited from restoration activities since 2012.

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Roseanna Cunningham, the environment secretary, said the restoration of degraded peatland is a nature-based solution to “ending Scotland’s contribution to climate change” and protecting biodiversity.

Francesca Osowska, the chief executive of NatureScot, welcomed the announcement, saying: “Peatland restoration can play a key role in Scotland’s green recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic by creating jobs and skills opportunities in the rural economy.”

Scotland aims to cut emissions by 75 per cent by 2030 and plans to be a net-zero country by 2045.