Julia Kasper – Rewetting peatlands is the biggest climate opportunity to cut CO2

Source: Dev.to

Julia Kasper, co‑founder and CEO of Zukunftmoor, argues that rewetting drained peatlands represents the single biggest climate opportunity in agriculture today. Although peatlands cover only about 3 % of the global land surface, they store more carbon than all the world’s forests combined. When peatlands are drained—a common practice for agriculture—they don’t just release CO₂ once; they leak carbon continuously, year after year. Restoring peatlands therefore stops that “constant leak,” and rewetting them can turn a major source of emissions into a long‑term carbon sink.

A market‑driven restoration model

Rewetting alone is not enough; farmers need viable, sustainable livelihoods. Zukunftmoor’s innovative approach combines rewetting with the cultivation of Sphagnum moss, a natural peatland plant that can serve as a sustainable substitute for extracted peat in horticultural substrates. By using drones or hand‑seeding methods and developing harvesting and substrate‑supply chains, the approach offers farmers a low‑input, long‑term pathway to maintain income while restoring degraded peatlands.

Climate mitigation and practical agriculture

Kasper’s vision provides peatland regions across Europe with a concrete alternative to drainage‑based farming—one that aligns environmental restoration with economic viability.

Original article published on Investing in Regenerative Agriculture.