Deriving a justified budget for peatland rewetting – Applying the German coal phase-out as a blueprint

Pia Sommer, Sebastian Lakner, Anke Nordt, Franziska Tanneberger and Johannes Wegmann

Land Use Policy, 2024, vol. 147, issue C

Abstract: Carbon emissions of peatlands drained for agriculture and forestry contribute more than 7 % to total GHG emissions in various countries worldwide. Hence, reducing these emissions by ending peatland drainage is a significant contribution to a transition towards carbon neutrality and being in line with the Paris Agreement. To achieve this goal, swift action is needed. Using Germany as a case study, we scrutinize whether the German coal phase-out can serve as a ‘blueprint’ to end drainage on agriculturally used peatlands, using six categories (political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal). We also calculate a politically justified budget for a peatland drainage phase-out comparable to the coal phase-out in terms of the socially acceptable mitigation of CO2 emissions. Our results suggest that the current pace of rewetting is too slow in comparison to a rewetting path following the Paris Agreement and would create an area gap of about 560,000 ha and a resulting CO2 emission gap of 84.6–148 Mt CO2 by 2029. We show that both, peatland drainage phase-out and coal phase-out, are socio-technical transitions which require governmental intervention and a guided-level perspective. For a governed peatland drainage phase-out in Germany which is 1.5°C compatible, we determine a politically justified total budget between 13.8 and 16 billion €.

Keywords: Peatland rewetting; Carbon neutrality; Land use policy; Peatland drainage phase-out; Sustainable transition; Socio-technical transition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:147:y:2024:i:c:s0264837724003168

DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2024.107363

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