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 between 2021 and 2025. The objectives are to:
- Reduce emissions from peat by nine megatonnes 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.
Two types of grant are available:
Restoration Grant
These grants fund landscape scale restoration work on degraded peatlands. 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.
Discovery Grant
These grants support applicants to gather the information they will need to apply for a Restoration Grant in future rounds. Discovery Grants can cover up to 100% of funding. Applications for Discovery Grant funding may include:
- Developing new peat partnerships and projects, and engaging new partners or landowners.
- Building capacity and capability in emerging peat partnerships.
- Exploring opportunities for private investment funding.
- Developing site understanding, including baseline monitoring, hydrological and ecological surveys or historic environment assessments.
Environmental groups, local authorities, charities, public bodies, individual landowners and organisations in England may apply. The same applicant can apply for both grants in the same year, as long as each application is for different sites. 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.
The Restoration Grant is currently closed; however, the second round will open for applications early in 2022 at a date to be confirmed.
How To Apply
Restoration Grant - the first round for applications is closed. The second round will open for applications early in 2022 at a date to be confirmed.
Discovery Grant - the first round is open for applications from 7 July 2021 to 1 September 2021.
Applicants need to register and apply through Defra’s eSourcing portal.
Those requiring help with the registration process can call 0800 368 4850 or email [email protected]
Useful documents & links
Useful Links
Addresses and contacts
For further information on how to obtain this grant locally, please contact the following:
- Enquiries
Peatland Grant Scheme
Natural England
County Hall
Spetchley Road
Worcester
WR5 2NP
Tel: 0300 060 3900
Email: [email protected]