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GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS

Wetter is better for peat carbon

Nature Climate Change volume 11, pages 561–562 (2021)Cite this article

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The role of peatlands in future climate change is uncertain because peat-derived greenhouse gas emissions are difficult to predict. Now research shows that reduced methane emissions from drying peatlands are likely to be outweighed by increasing CO2 emissions.

Peatlands are organic-rich wetlands that store huge amounts of terrestrial carbon. However, changes in surface wetness can cause peatlands to switch between being net sinks and net sources of greenhouse gases. Drier conditions lead to an increase in CO2 emissions but can also suppress methane emissions1. Climate change and large-scale drainage of peatlands for agriculture and forestry are thought to be causing widespread drying of these ecosystems2. However, the net effect on peatland contributions to global warming is unclear due to the trade-off between CO2 and methane emissions. Writing in this issue of Nature Climate Change, Yuanyuan Huang and colleagues3 show that falling water tables are likely to lead to future increases in CO2 emissions that more than outweigh reduced methane emissions. They show that under both high- and low-emissions scenarios, drying peatlands are likely to have a net global warming effect by the end of the twenty-first century.

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Fig. 1: An Alpine peatland in the Hohe Tauern National Park, Austria.

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  1. School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Paul J. Morris

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  1. Paul J. Morris
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Correspondence to Paul J. Morris.

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Morris, P.J. Wetter is better for peat carbon. Nat. Clim. Chang. 11, 561–562 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-01072-z

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