Environmental groups, local authorities, charities, public bodies and landowners in England can access funding to develop sites where peat can be restored.
The Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme has been set up to support the restoration of degraded peatland in England, backed by over £50 million through to 2025. The objectives are to:
- Reduce emissions from peat by nine mega-tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents cumulatively by 2050.
- Establish the process of restoring 35,000 hectares of degraded peat in England by March 2025.
- Provide wider benefits, such as improved ecosystems and biodiversity, better water quality, natural flood management, protection of historic environment features, and connecting people with nature.
Capital works can be funded through the second round of the programme’s Restoration Grant strand. These grants fund landscape scale restoration work on degraded peatlands. The funds are for projects where any preparatory work and management plans are complete, or mostly complete. Applicants can normally apply for up to 75% of the total project costs. In exceptional cases, applicants can apply for up to 85% of the cost.
Environmental groups, local authorities, charities, public bodies, individual landowners and organisations in England may apply. Natural England is looking for landscape-scale applications that work to restore the whole hydrological unit of a peatland. This is likely to involve a number of sites and landowners, so applications from partnerships are encouraged.
Applications for the second round of the Restoration Grant are now being invited. The deadline to apply is 3 June 2022 (17:00 BST).
How To Apply
Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme: Restoration Round 2 deadline: 3 June 2022 (17:00 BST).
Applicants need to register and apply through Defra’s eSourcing portal.
For more information, visit the GOV UK website.