Germany needs to strengthen peatland protection efforts – scientific advisors

Germany’s draft law to give renaturation and peatland rewetting an “overriding public interest” is too restricted to make a meaningful difference in practice, said the government’s scientific advisory board for natural climate protection. The scientists welcomed the added support given to natural climate protection in Germany’s draft Natural Infrastructure law, but called for amendments to peatland protection rules.

They criticised that exceptions to the protection for peatlands in the law are too far-reaching, for example because an “overriding public interest” only applies if no other interests of grey infrastructure such as roads or housing development are affected. “This creates the risk that, in practice, peatland protection will continue to be frequently treated as a secondary consideration,” the scientists wrote in a position paper. 

The advisors added that enshrining natural infrastructure into law was “an important shift in perspective, recognising natural ecosystems as an indispensable foundation of societal well-being.” However, the advisors said the law should set targets for the expansion and development of natural infrastructure, and not just the protection of existing spaces. 

The rewetting of peatlands plays a key role in climate protection. In its recent Climate Action Programme, the government decided to “massively increase” support for nature-based climate action, with an additional 4.7 billion euros in state funding for measures in the land use sector (LULUCF – land use, land use change and forestry). 

The land use sector is both a source of emissions and a carbon sink. Healthy forests and peatland bind more greenhouse gases than they emit. However, dying trees and dried out peatland can also become crucial sources of emissions. Most emissions in the sector originate from organic soils, primarily from drained peatlands, which meant that the entire land use sector was a net carbon source in 2025, despite stabilising forest conditions. 

Rewetting peatlands therefore remains the key method for significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving climate targets in the sector, the scientists said. Germany is set to fall short of its 2030 net-negative emissions target for forests, peatland and soils.