TY - JOUR

T1 - Lost in action

T2 - Climate friendly use of European peatlands needs coherence and incentive-based policies

AU - Chen, Cheng

AU - Loft, Lasse

AU - Matzdorf, Bettina

N1 - Funding Information: Additionally, the EU and member states co-fund the financial support for implementing existing incentive-based policies. Only Germany uses such co-funding to provide advisory services, buying facilities, adapting machinery, and promoting cooperation (see Table 3 ). Paludiculture, submerged drains, and high water table grassland potential have been supported as potential incentive-based policies via pilot projects (see Table 4 ). Funding Information: Many provinces have already implemented initiatives to tackle the subsidence problem. Farmers can receive up to 2000€ of subsidies per ha for constructing pipes for submerged drains and pressurized drainage. For example, the peat innovation program (Innovatieprogramma Veen), which was implemented by the agricultural collective Water, Land & Dijken, has been supported by the Province of Noord-Holland. It tests different water-raising measures with farmers, including paludiculture and pressurized drainage.

PY - 2023/7

Y1 - 2023/7

N2 - Peatlands are significant to global efforts to combat climate change. However, to date, they have been a missing piece in the climate change mitigation policy puzzle in the European Union (EU). Taking a policy coherence perspective, we investigate how policies from different governance levels—that is, EU, member state, and regional levels—support and impede existing and new policies for climate-friendly peatland usage. We put a particular focus on incentive-based policy instruments, because such incentives are often advocated as promising policy instruments for supporting the transition to the sustainable management of peatlands. We selected the three peatland-rich EU countries Finland, Germany, and the Netherlands. Based on semi-structured interviews with 35 experts, we indicate a lack of horizontal policy coherence between agriculture, nature conservation, water management, forestry, energy, and climate policies in terms of climate change mitigation measures on peatlands. At the EU level, most prominently, the Common Agricultural Policy counteracts climate targets because direct payments currently encourage the unsustainable management of peatlands. At the national and subnational levels, water quality in Finland, nature conservation in Germany, and subsidence in the Netherlands were primary objectives of peatland relevant policies. Due to a lack of clear guidance on raising the groundwater table, the current incentive-based policy instruments are ineffective for reducing emissions. Despite its higher mitigation potential, potential incentive-based policies for rewetting encounter various regulatory barriers caused by the policy incoherence. We conclude that the transition to climate-friendly peatland usage requires coherent regulatory frameworks and incentive-based policies supporting rewetting.

AB - Peatlands are significant to global efforts to combat climate change. However, to date, they have been a missing piece in the climate change mitigation policy puzzle in the European Union (EU). Taking a policy coherence perspective, we investigate how policies from different governance levels—that is, EU, member state, and regional levels—support and impede existing and new policies for climate-friendly peatland usage. We put a particular focus on incentive-based policy instruments, because such incentives are often advocated as promising policy instruments for supporting the transition to the sustainable management of peatlands. We selected the three peatland-rich EU countries Finland, Germany, and the Netherlands. Based on semi-structured interviews with 35 experts, we indicate a lack of horizontal policy coherence between agriculture, nature conservation, water management, forestry, energy, and climate policies in terms of climate change mitigation measures on peatlands. At the EU level, most prominently, the Common Agricultural Policy counteracts climate targets because direct payments currently encourage the unsustainable management of peatlands. At the national and subnational levels, water quality in Finland, nature conservation in Germany, and subsidence in the Netherlands were primary objectives of peatland relevant policies. Due to a lack of clear guidance on raising the groundwater table, the current incentive-based policy instruments are ineffective for reducing emissions. Despite its higher mitigation potential, potential incentive-based policies for rewetting encounter various regulatory barriers caused by the policy incoherence. We conclude that the transition to climate-friendly peatland usage requires coherent regulatory frameworks and incentive-based policies supporting rewetting.

KW - Carbon-rich soil

KW - Climate change mitigation

KW - Multi-level governance

KW - Peat

KW - Policy analysis

KW - Policy coherence

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85153175677&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.envsci.2023.04.010

DO - 10.1016/j.envsci.2023.04.010

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85153175677

VL - 145

SP - 104

EP - 115

JO - Environmental Science and Policy

JF - Environmental Science and Policy

SN - 1462-9011

ER -