Half of England’s peatlands proposed to be swamped to reduce emissions

According to the centre, food grown on lowland peat in England has a larger carbon footprint than Brazilian soybeans, due to the fact that wet peat sequesters carbon, but once it is drained and treated it releases 19 times more carbon than any other arable land.

The think tank is convinced that British authorities should make waterlogging peat a priority by removing drainage or building dykes to keep water on the land. Farmers, for their part, argue that the area comparison does not reflect the true value of peatlands, which produce more than 7 per cent of all British farm produce.