The Peatlands Climate Action Scheme includes ambitious enhanced peatland decommissioning, rehabilitation and restoration measures, initially targeting circa 33,000 hectares in over 80 Bord na Móna bogs. The scheme was launched in November 2020 and will be a peatland restoration plan of international significance.
PCAS will harness the natural power of peatlands to secure a store of over 100m tonnes of carbon in perpetuity and capture millions of tonnes more in the coming years. The announcement underscores the company’s leading role in helping deliver a carbon-neutral country by 2050.
The scheme will receive up to €108m of new climate action funding from the government, in addition to €18million invested from Bord na Móna, for peatland restoration and rehabilitation measures. The announcement means peatlands restoration on the company and third-party lands is now a core business activity for Bord na Móna.
The PCAS will be supported by €126 million in funding
The scheme will secure over 100m tonnes of carbon storage
The peatland rehabilitaition scheme will encompass 33,000 hectares of peatland rehabilitation
The initiative will help recreate native habitats, rich in biodiversity and cultural significance; reverse the fragmentation of other habitats and the loss of biodiversity corridors within the wider landscape; sequester carbon in peatlands in perpetuity; protect and enhance water quality and associated aquatic ecosystems; enhance air quality; as well as providing space for local communities and people to enjoy the outdoors.
See Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan's visit to a bog rehabilitation programme undertaken at Crosswood Bog in Co. Westmeath by Bord na Móna.
The scheme also enabled workers who previously harvested peat for power generation to transfer to bog restoration and rehabilitation work. PCAS will sustain 350 operations, engineering, ecology roles in restoration operations working on Bord na Móna and third-party peatlands as part of Just Transition principles.
