Scotland's peatland restoration project sees record results after surge in funding

Supported by £35.5 million of Scottish Government funding, 15,448 hectares of restoration is a record annual figure for the Peatland Action Group | NatureScot

Scotland has recorded its highest annual level of peatland restoration since its national programme began, according to new figures.

To coincide with World Peatlands Day, ministers confirmed that 15,448 hectares of peatland were restored in 2025-26 — an area equivalent to almost 30,000 football pitches.

The figure falls short of the initial annual target of 20,000 hectares, which the Scottish Government kept failing to meet.

Since 2023, the goal was then scaled back to half the size, with a target for this year climbing to 12,000 hectares. Ministers have committed to restoring 250,000 hectares of degraded peatland by 2030.

This year’s figure represents the largest amount of restoration delivered through the Peatland ACTION partnership, a programme funded by the Scottish Government and led by NatureScot, since its launch in 2012.

Often overlooked as remote, boggy landscapes, healthy peatlands act as vast carbon stores, holding the equivalent of an estimated 140 years of Scotland's annual greenhouse gas emissions.

The Scottish Budget allocated £35.5m to peatland restoration this year, a 32 per cent increase on 2024-25.

Critics have questioned whether the programme is cost effective at a time when budgets are tight. Environment campaigners have also raised concern about peatland restoration becoming tied to carbon-credit schemes, allowing companies to claim environmental benefits while continuing to emit greenhouse gases elsewhere.

NatureScot's grant programme accounted for the largest share of the work, supporting 67 projects and restoring 10,352 hectares. The Cairngorms National Park Authority restored 1,900 hectares through 15 projects, Forestry and Land Scotland restored 1,821 hectares, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority delivered 954 hectares, and Scottish Water restored 421 hectares.

Projects included restoration work in the Dee and Spey catchments, while a further phase of work at Delnadamph Estate attracted £328,000 of private investment, enabling additional restoration across the landscape. Forestry and Land Scotland continued large-scale ‘forest-to-bog’ schemes across more than 30 former commercial forestry sites. Landscape-scale rewetting continued including at sites in the Flow Country, Torrachilty, West Argyll, Lochaber and the Kilpatrick Hills.

Gillian Martin, Scotland's cabinet secretary for climate action and rural affairs, said: “Restoring our peatlands creates quality jobs and economic opportunities in rural areas as well as reducing emissions, mitigating risks of flooding and wildfires, improving water quality, increasing biodiversity, and making our landscapes more resilient to the damaging effects of climate change.”