The carbon footprint of peatland restoration

Restoration of peatlands is viewed as one of the most important nature-based approaches to meet the UK’s ambitious net zero carbon and climate targets. There is significant public and private investment in restoration, utilising voluntary carbon credit markets. However, the carbon cost of implementing such restoration needs to be built into restoration design and verification using tools like the UK Peatland Code. Here we report how the choice of restoration approach has a substantial impact on the potential carbon credits that could be claimed. The University of Cumbria's Institute of Science and Environment’s policy briefings provide an evidence base for policy makers and are developed from our research and expertise including UK land protection and conservation, disaster risk reduction, international conservation and marine mammal acoustics.