Project Description

Peatlands play a key role in fighting climate change. They store huge amounts of carbon, support rich biodiversity, and offer essential benefits for our environment. But today, half of the EU’s peatlands are damaged—mainly because of peat extraction—which puts both nature and climate goals at risk.

Peat is widely used in horticulture (like growing mushrooms, seedlings, and flowers), but it comes with a big environmental cost. Finding and using sustainable alternatives has been difficult due to technical, social, and economic challenges. That’s where PEATLESS comes in.

This 3-year EU-funded project is working to reduce the use of peat in horticulture by promoting sustainable, locally available growing materials. These new mixes will be created together with growers and tailored to their specific needs. They’ll be tested in real-world conditions across four important horticultural regions in Europe.

To support this shift, PEATLESS will also:

• Develop digital tools to monitor how well the alternatives perform

• Run training and outreach activities to build trust and confidence among growers

• Explore the economic side by assessing costs and creating new business models

• Plan how to scale up the approach across Europe

PEATLESS brings together 12 partners from 4 countries, including research centres, universities, industry experts, farmer representatives, and policymakers. By working together, the project aims to make a real difference.

By 2050, PEATLESS expects to achieve:

• Environmental impact: Save 2.5 million m³ of peat and cut 900,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions

• Economic and social impact: Support 5,000 horticultural businesses across 40 regions

• Policy impact: Provide over 30 recommendations to guide sustainable practices