Ban the use of peat in horticulture and all growing media by 2023.

Peat bogs and moors are extremely important in the fight against the climate emergency; sequestering carbon better than many natural landscapes, reducing flooding and are great for biodiversity.The plan to stop peat use by 2030 is too late, and needs to be brought forward. Peat imports should cease.

Peat currently makes up 40% of growing media used by the public, and over 60% of that used in the professional sector. There are other materials such as coir, composted wood and leafmould which can be used. Peatlands should not be mined, but protected and encouraged.

The government should immediately rescind extraction licences and compensate companies, and by the end of 2023 have all UK peatlands properly protected, and all growing media peat-free.

The Government is committed to protecting and restoring our vulnerable peatlands in England. We have always been clear of the need to end the use of peat in horticultural products in England and want this transition to be as seamless as possible for the industry. While there has been some progress, the voluntary target to phase out the use of peat in horticulture in the amateur sector by 2020, set in 2011, has not succeeded. On the 18th May 2021 we published the England Peat Action Plan, within which we committed to publishing a full consultation in 2021 on banning the sale of peat and peat containing products in the amateur sector by the end of this Parliament. We will also be setting an absolute deadline to ban the sale of peat in the professional sector.

We are engaging with the industry on making the transition to peat alternatives as seamless as possible. We will continue to work with the industry to develop a Responsible Sourcing Scheme for Growing Media, which allows manufacturers and retailers to make informed choices of growing media inputs to amateur/retail products, to ensure that the environmental footprint of peat alternatives is minimised. We have jointly funded research with the industry on peat replacements in professional horticulture.

We are also currently co-funding with the horticultural industry monitoring of the composition of growing media (including peat) supplied for amateur and professional use in the horticultural market. This represents a 25% decrease in the volume of peat sold in growing media from 2011 to 2019. However, the volume of peat sold in the UK rose by 9% in 2020 due to unprecedented demand throughout the year and the impact of the global pandemic on the supply chains for alternative materials.