Increasing carbon sequestration
Reaching the UK-legally binding Net Zero GHG emissions target by 2050 requires emission sources to be balanced by sinks. The UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology’s research not only tackles the decarbonisation challenge, but also explores co-benefits for habitats and species.
In the Seventh Carbon Budget, the Climate Change Committee advises that by 2040, UK emissions should be cut to 13% of their 1990 levels to stay on track for net zero by 2050. Land use changes, including peatland restoration and woodland creation, are key to make this happen. That’s where we come in!
The UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) monitors and models environmental change across land, water and air, which supports the UK’s journey to net zero. Managing a UK-wide network of flux towers that track carbon and greenhouse gas movements year-round, UKCEH locates emission hotspots and carbon sinks. This data informs practical, science-based approaches to decarbonisation across sectors.
Let’s explore a few ways UKCEH’s research is developed and applied to overcome the decarbonisation challenge.
Peatlands are waterlogged ecosystems where slow decomposition allows organic matter to accumulate over millennia. They help capture carbon dioxide and support plant species, with the UK home to some of the world’s largest areas of rare blanket bog. However, around 80% of UK peatlands have been altered by human activities such as drainage, burning, afforestation, grazing, and pollution, often to make the land suitable for crops or other uses. This has turned them into carbon dioxide emission sources.
UKCEH led the development of a national peatland greenhouse gas (GHG) flux monitoring network in the UK, which has enabled greater understanding of the interacting effects of climate change, land-use change and GHG exchange. We also manage the land-use component of the GHG emissions inventory for the UK, which is reported to the United Nations. UKCEH elaborated methods to include peatland in the national inventory and showed that they generate around 4% of the UK’s total GHG emissions. Our research continues to support the improvement of national emissions reporting.
We increasingly work with government, farmers, NGOs and the private sector to develop ways to mitigate these emissions, particularly in emissions hotspots in lowland agricultural areas that are important to the UK’s economy and food security. Through the NERC GHG Removal Demonstrator programme, we also create new forms of peatland management to harness their unique potential to act as efficient and permanent carbon sinks.
All Woodland Carbon and Peatland Code sites must record the amount of carbon dioxide they remove from or stop entering the atmosphere. Yet, current measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) solutions aren’t easily accessible or affordable, particularly for smaller projects with limited funds. UKCEH scientists are therefore researching potential solutions to open up the schemes to new entrants.
As part of the current CivTech Challenge, we’re exploring how land-based measurement instruments, such as in-situ sensors, can improve carbon MRV from woodland carbon and peatland restoration sites. The work combines: • the development of lower-cost alternatives to expensive commercial sensors,• more efficient sensor deployment to reduce overall MRV costs, • integration with Earth Observation to scale up observations from point to project scale.
At UKCEH, we research woodlands and green spaces, including those in urban areas.
Our scientists use a range of tools and models in collaboration with partners to assess where best to implement these spaces in cities.
Our research has highlighted the many benefits green spaces provide. They store carbon, reduce air pollution, lower noise and temperatures, support biodiversity, enhance people's wellbeing, and more.
Read more in paper >
The interactive, web-based City Explorer Toolkit is designed to understand where best to create urban green and blue spaces like parks and ponds, to ensure that cooling, improved air quality and noise reduction benefits are received by the people who need them most.
The tool uses models and spatial data to calculate the benefits of different green infrastructure and nature-based solutions to tackle challenges in cities. It also uses population and social data to work out which groups of people will benefit most from a particular option.
We could do even more…Our scientists are working on a carbon stocks model that could be integrated into the Toolkit to further support cities in achieving their net zero goals. With additional funding, this new feature could be released sooner. To find out more or support our initiative, please contact us.
Our scientists also research the restoration of coastal habitats in the context of net zero targets and connected benefits to enhance biodiversity and remediate nutrient pollution, amongst others. They have explored the potential for salt marsh restoration, with past findings and current research paving the way for habitat protection, carbon storage and adaptation to climate change.
Saltmarshes collect and store carbon-rich sediment, with plants above-ground photosynthesising and below-ground microbes breaking down organic matter.
UKCEH scientists have been working on The WWF Saltmarsh Research Platform, which will be the first site to measure the full carbon balance of saltmarsh habitat. This will provide key carbon flux data needed for future incorporation into the UK's Net Zero strategy and the UK GHG inventory.
The site will be added to the existing network of GHG flux measurements and will benefit from UKCEH in-house knowledge, experience, and standards previously applied to peatland and agricultural systems.
More about Blue Carbon and Saltmarsh research >
