LIFE SUPER EU
Scaling Up Peatland Restoration in the EU
In sites across Europe, NABU and its partners are rewetting peatlands - photo: Kaspars Teilans
Peatlands are among our planet's most powerful carbon reservoirs. Drained and damaged peatlands become massive greenhouse gas emitters. When rewetted and restored to healthy functioning, these ecosystems resume their role as climate allies – locking away carbon and supporting incredible biodiversity. That's why NABU is setting out to transform and dramatically expand peatland restoration across Europe, coordinating the new project “Scaling Up Peatland Restoration in the EU” (LIFE SUPER EU) – a five-year, €11 million initiative, co-financed by the EU LIFE Programme.
LIFE SUPER EU will combine on-the-ground restoration across Europe with innovative financing approaches, bringing peatland projects to a scale urgently needed to meet EU climate and biodiversity targets. Pilot restoration work will create immediate climate and biodiversity benefits, while generating practical lessons for larger-scale interventions.
With this ambitious initiative, LIFE SUPER EU seeks to remove barriers to large-scale restoration and ensure that Europe’s peatlands once again become climate allies - graphic: NABU
Over five years, the project will:
- restore approximately 1,300 hectares of degraded peatlands across the EU.
- develop a pipeline of over 15,000 hectares of restoration-ready projects.
- create innovative financing models to attract both public and private investment.
- build financial and technical capacity for long-term, large-scale restoration beyond the project period.
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As project coordinator, NABU is leading restoration work in Sweden and Germany (here pictured: Osteregelser Moor) - photo: NABU
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Restoration work is being conducted across Europe, at sites like Poland's Luknajno peatlands - photo: Monika Łaskawska-Wolszczak
International expertise to move the needle on peatland restoration
The international project consortium brings together partners with expertise across a broad range of fields, including conservation finance, project development and the hands-on technical aspects of restoring, monitoring and managing peatlands.
Project partners
- NABU (Germany) – project coordinator and leading peatland restoration work in Germany and Sweden
- Eurosite - the European Land Conservation Network (Netherlands) – responsible for networking, training and development of the Peatland Section of the Conservation Finance Accelerator
- aeco (Germany) – technical lead on project pipeline development and portfolio management
- Rīgas Meži (Latvia) – implementing peatland restoration and contributing to national upscaling
- Natuurpunt (Belgium) – implementing peatland restoration and contributing to national upscaling
- Green Restoration Ireland Cooperative Society Ltd (Ireland) – implementing peatland restoration and contributing to national upscaling
- Centrum Ochrony Mokradeł / Wetlands Conservation Centre (Poland) – implementing peatland restoration and contributing to national upscaling
- Pelkių atkūrimo ir apsaugos fondas / Foundation for Peatland Restoration and Conservation (Lithuania) – piloting restoration on small-scale agricultural peatlands
NABU's role
- Project coordination
- Implementing restoration work on regional NABU sites: Peatland rewetting in Brandenburg (Teurow) and Niedersachsen (Osteregelser Moor)
- Greenhouse gas measuring on NABU sites
- Systematic Europe-wide search for new potential project areas
- Testing of methods and standards for generating carbon certificates under the EU Carbon Removal Certification Framework
Project goals
The project addresses and seeks to remedy the five main barriers to upscaling peatland restoration:
- Lack of technical expertise in conservation organisations
- Limited financing for early project phases
- Overproportional dependency on public funding
- EU-wide nature markets for carbon certificates still in their infancy
- Limited institutional knowledge for business decisions
Project facts
Project title
LIFE SUPER EU: Scaling Up Peatland Restoration in the EU
Period
2025 - 2030
Region
European Union
Countries
Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden
Partners
NABU e.V., Eurosite - the European Land Conservation Network, aeco GmbH, Rīgas Meži, Natuurpunt, Green Restoration Ireland Cooperative Society Ltd, Centrum Ochrony Mokradeł / Wetlands Conservation Centre, Pelkių atkūrimo ir apsaugos fondas / Foundation for Peatland Restoration and Conservation
Sponsored by / supported by
LIFE Programme for the Environment and Climate Action
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
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