Natural England Wrong Again on Peat Burning

A new peer-reviewed study has found that carefully burning the surface of degraded peat soils before rewetting can cut harmful methane (CH₄) emissions by more than 95% over just 90 days.

Researchers from Denmark tested soil cores taken from former farmland and found that when soils were rewetted without burning, methane levels rose sharply. But when the soil surface had first been burned, methane emissions almost disappeared. The scientists believe the reduction is due to changes in soil chemistry - particularly a drop in methane-producing microbes and greater stability in the carbon stored within the soil.

This discovery is highly significant. While rewetting peat can reduce carbon dioxide (CO₂) loss, it often triggers a surge in methane, a far more potent greenhouse gas. Controlled, well-timed burning may therefore enhance the climate benefits of peatland restoration. Readers will know this is the exact opposite of what Natural England and Defra have repeatedly claimed.

The research was published in May 2025, before Defra imposed its new burning restrictions and before John Holmes, Natural England’s Director of Strategy, defended those restrictions in his October blog. This means that the evidence was already available to officials when the decision was made, and was ignored.

The authors call for more long-term field trials, but the direction of travel is clear: burning, done safely and scientifically, can be part of the solution, not the problem.

Why It Matters

Natural England’s advice to government, that all burning is harmful, is demonstrably wrong. The study, published in Nature’s climate journal, shows that controlled winter burning can reduce greenhouse gases and improve the success of peatland restoration. Yet Defra pressed ahead with tighter regulations that will make such management almost impossible.

Traditional land management practices like controlled winter burning have a proven role in protecting peat, preventing wildfires, and, as this research shows, cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Ministers must now insist on an independent review of Natural England’s evidence base before further damage is done to the uplands and the communities who care for them.

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