Having just come from a fascinating discussion on peat issues with Carlo Laurenzi, an old friend who runs London Wildlife Trust, Becky Milligan from the BBC who’s done some excellent pieces on carbon and climate change, and Rob Stoneman who’s one of the leading lights on peat – Rob’s day job is running Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, but he also chairs the National Peat Partnership - I’m now beginning to see why peat is such a big issue.

When it comes to climate change, peat is in many ways Europe’s own rainforest.  We all now know that the world’s rainforests act as vast carbon sinks and play a key role in regulating the global climate, and in a similar way, peat bogs are vast natural reserves of stored carbon.  As these ancient peat bogs are dug up or allowed to dry out, harmful carbon emissions are released into the Earth’s atmosphere.  It has been estimated that the organic carbon stored in the bogs of Europe, Siberia and North America together hold the equivalent of 70 years worth of global industrial CO2 emissions! 

So, what can we do to preserve our precious peat?  First off, we need to recognise that here in the UK we have our own “rainforest” in the form of peat bogs and start taking some significant steps to preserve such an invaluable national asset.  And this is where it immediately gets difficult – gardeners and our horticulture industry have become very reliant on peat which is why Green Rewards is aiming to lead by example and move to “peat free” for all our gardening products.  And with such a potent carbon force stored in our peat, it ought to be easy to use carbon finance to pay for a large-scale peat conservation and restoration project.  But carbon financing is never straightforward, and rarely seems to apply common sense&helip;the plethora of standards with their restrictive criteria that have built up around carbon financing makes it very difficult for peat conservation and restoration in the UK to qualify for carbon funding.  However our view at Green Rewards is that it should qualify - it can make a big impact on global warming; it’s here in the UK so it’s not only our responsibility to ensure CO2 emissions from peat are minimised but it’s also more tangible than charcoal stoves in Africa and other more distant carbon projects; and it’s good for local wildlife.   So if you’re interested in working with us on a voluntary carbon peat project, do please drop me an email graham.simmonds@greenrewards.co.uk – it’s great that we all want to save the Amazonian rainforest, but let’s equally do what we can to save our peat bogs!