Carbon emissions of peatlands drained for agriculture and forestry contribute more than 7 % to total GHG emissions in various countries worldwide. Hence, reducing these emissions by ending peatland drainage is a significant contribution to a transition towards carbon neutrality and being in line with the Paris Agreement. To achieve this goal, swift action is needed. Using Germany as a case study, we scrutinize whether the German coal phase-out can serve as a ‘blueprint’ to end drainage on agriculturally used peatlands, using six categories (political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal). We also calculate a politically justified budget for a peatland drainage phase-out comparable to the coal phase-out in terms of the socially acceptable mitigation of CO2 emissions. Our results suggest that the current pace of rewetting is too slow in comparison to a rewetting path following the Paris Agreement and would create an area gap of about 560,000 ha and a resulting CO2 emission gap of 84.6–148 Mt CO2 by 2029. We show that both, peatland drainage phase-out and coal phase-out, are socio-technical transitions which require governmental intervention and a guided-level perspective. For a governed peatland drainage phase-out in Germany which is 1.5°C compatible, we determine a politically justified total budget between 13.8 and 16 billion €.

中文翻译：

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为泥炭地再湿润制定合理的预算 – 以德国逐步淘汰煤炭为蓝本


农业和林业排干的泥炭地的碳排放量占全球各国温室气体排放总量的 7% 以上。因此，通过结束泥炭地排水来减少这些排放，是对向碳中和过渡的重大贡献，并符合《巴黎协定》。为了实现这一目标，需要迅速采取行动。以德国为例，我们从六个方面（政治、经济、社会、技术、环境和法律）的角度，仔细研究了德国的煤炭淘汰是否可以作为结束农业用泥炭地排水的“蓝图”。我们还计算了在政治上合理的泥炭地排水逐步淘汰预算，在社会可接受的二氧化碳排放缓解方面，与逐步淘汰煤炭相当。我们的结果表明，与《巴黎协定》之后的再润湿路径相比，目前的再润湿速度太慢，到 2029 年将造成约 560,000 公顷的面积缺口，由此产生的 CO2 排放缺口为 84.6-148 Mt CO2。我们表明，泥炭地排水逐步淘汰和煤炭逐步淘汰都是社会技术转型，需要政府干预和指导层面的视角。对于德国 1.5°C 兼容的治理泥炭地排水逐步淘汰，我们确定的政治合理总预算在 13.8 至 160 亿欧元之间。