Yorkshire Water will achieve significant gains on its journey to carbon net zero, by investing further in peatland restoration.

Funded by Yorkshire Water, the Yorkshire Peat Partnership (YPP ) will continue its peatland restoration work at Humberstone Bank Farm, which is owned by Yorkshire Water and leased under its Beyond Nature scheme.

Peatland restoration keeps the millennia of stored carbon locked up in the peat, which is crucial in the fight against climate change. As well as carbon sequestration benefits, the expanded peatland programme will help to keep water on the peatland, bringing the water table back to the surface, rewetting the bog and allowing bog vegetation to re-establish and thrive.

Healthy blanket bog also provides natural filtration of water before it reaches the drinking supply, meaning that it needs less treatment further down the line. Healthy peat also slows the flow of water off the hills, which helps to manage flooding downstream.

The Yorkshire Peat Partnership will install over 900 sediment traps on the land by March 2021.

Lisa Harrowsmith, lead land & property surveyor at Yorkshire Water said:

“We’re really pleased to be working with the Yorkshire Peat Partnership to continue peat restoration work at Humberstone Bank Farm.

“The farm is part of our Beyond Nature scheme, which promotes sustainable land management. It plays a big role in our land strategy of delivering exceptional land for Yorkshire and will help us achieve carbon net zero by 2030.”

Matthew Snelling, peatland restoration officer at YPP said:

“Wherever we restore peatland, we do as much as we can with the funding available to give our partners and the peatland the best value for money. Often, though, we can’t do as much work as we would like, so it’s great to be given the opportunity to go back to Humberstone to give this bog an even better chance at returning to its natural state. We’d like to thank Yorkshire Water for making this work possible.”