Climate Neutrality Strategies for Peatland Management: Case Study about Peat Extraction Field Repurposing Scenarios in Latvia

Abstract To mitigate land degradation caused by peat mining, the European Commission, through the Nature Restoration Law (Regulation (EU) 2024/1991), has established a goal to restore habitats. This includes repurposing peat mining fields into areas designated for various restoration measures. When defining a repurposing strategy for a specific peat extraction field, an important aspect is to assess the environmental impact of the different scenarios. This study is made in cooperation with a Latvian peat extraction company, with the goal to achieve climate neutrality by the year 2050. The company is a significant producer of peat substrate with a capacity of 115 thousand tonnes per year. Ten recultivation scenarios were identified for the company’s peat extraction field: afforestation, blueberry cultivation, cranberry cultivation, paludiculture, waterbodies, croplands, grasslands, rewetting, solar parks and wind parks. These scenarios were compared with the baseline scenario, i.e. the situation if peat extraction were to continue in this field. The required data for the recultivation scenarios were collected and normalized to the functional unit of 1 ha. In the environmental life cycle analysis, the avoided impact from electricity production was considered. The avoided impact shows how much emission is reduced when the grid’s electricity is replaced with green energy. Three main emission reference points were identified for the 50-year greenhouse gas emissions assessment: short-term (2030), medium-term (2050) and long-term - emissions after 50 years (2075). The results show that the highest emissions per 1 ha over a 50-year period are from the installation and reconstruction of solar panels. And the largest avoided impact is from wind turbines. It was determined that each scenario individually results in lower emissions compared to the baseline. However, when the emissions from all scenarios are added together, the sum is greater than the baseline. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the recultivation scenarios further and optimise the land areas to optimise the recultivation scenario’s area and impact from them.