Peatlands cover 8% of the EU's surface and have a natural potential to store carbon. However, many are degraded, releasing carbon instead of storing it. European regions must act now to prevent further degradation.

The Care-Peat project restored 7 peatlands across North-West Europe, resulting in carbon savings of 9,600t CO2/year. The project demonstrated innovative large-scale restoration techniques and created tools and socio-economic strategies for land managers.

Northern hemisphere peatland soils contain approximately 33% of global soil carbon, despite accounting for only 3-5% of the total land area. Many of these peatlands are degraded, emitting rather than storing carbon. Global annual greenhouse gas emissions from drained organic soils are approximately 1,600 MT CO2 eq., twice that of aviation. In North-West Europe, this amounts to around 150 MT/year, exceeding Belgium's emissions.

Care-Peat aims to address the lack of effective strategies and methods to combat degradation and promote recovery. The project will demonstrate innovative technologies and partnerships to achieve net emissions savings through novel restoration and accounting techniques.

The project partners work with landowner groups to demonstrate carbon savings potential using pilots ranging from 10 to 250 ha. Five knowledge institutes from 3 countries collaborate to develop and test new techniques for improved peatland carbon assessment and accounting.

Care-Peat will:

- Develop and test innovative restoration techniques

- Create tools and strategies for land managers

- Demonstrate carbon savings potential

- Promote socio-economic benefits

- Facilitate further restorations after project completion

Expected outcomes include:

- 7,800 tonnes/year carbon reduction at project end

- 0.14 MT/year after 5 years

- 1.4 MT/year after 10 years across other North-West European nature reserves