National Parks and Wildlife Service and European Investment Bank strengthen support to rehabilitate Irish peatlands
Technical cooperation to scale up rehabilitation of peatlands with nationwide engagement and strengthened monitoring
The cooperation will further develop the Peatland Finance Ireland initiative, investing in nature and local development
New initiative to support the restoration of peatlands and address the climate and biodiversity impact of landscapes degraded by drainage and abstraction
On Thursday 30th June, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage Darragh O’Brien TD, and EIB Vice-President Christian Kettel-Thomsen formally agreed to strengthen cooperation for peatland restoration in Ireland with the European Investment Bank supporting NPWS efforts to accelerate the restoration of peatlands across the country.
After the meeting, Minister O’Brien said:
“Irelands is privileged as a country to hold some of the largest reserves of peatland habitat within Europe, covering over 20% of Ireland’s terrestrial territory. Significant progress is being made on peatlands restoration and rehabilitation in Ireland but the co-operation between the National Parks and Wildlife Service, as a strong voice for nature conservation, with the EIB can contribute to the scaling up of biodiversity and climate ambitions for peatlands on a national level.”
“The European Investment Bank, the EU’s climate bank, is committed to supporting investment to improve resilience to a changing and more extreme climate. Restoring degraded bogs is crucial to revitalising nature and improving resilience to a changing climate. Beautiful peat habitats across Ireland are vitally important for biodiversity and provide important carbon stores and sinks.”
said Christian Kettel-Thomsen, European Investment Bank Vice President.
The new cooperation brings together Government and state-owned enterprises, the private sector and local actors under a coordinated strategy for planning and financing peatland rehabilitation.
It will address climate and biodiversity challenges, use the latest scientific methods and unlock creation of economic opportunities. The new scheme builds on extensive experience already gained in Ireland and stakeholder engagement that enables investing in natural capital.
Peatland Finance Ireland a pioneer in Europe
The Peatland Finance Ireland initiative aims align the carbon and biodiversity agenda with opportunities for communities and regional development. The Initiative is engaging the broadest possible range of stakeholders, including corporates. Corporates have a wide range of motivations, include net zero carbon strategies, securing supply chains and Environmental and Social Governance. Consultation with Irish industry has shown a strong appetite for projects that follow science-based targets and integrate multiple benefits, for climate, biodiversity and society. They are already piloting projects that are shifting perceptions of investing in natural processes.
The creation of the Peatland Finance Ireland initiative has built on support provided by NPWS in 2021 under the Natural Capital Finance Facility, a joint EC-EIB financial instrument for biodiversity and nature-based climate adaptation, leading to the creation of a PFI stakeholders group.