Shop at St. Pancras to help restore UK peatlands

Shop at St. Pancras to help restore UK peatlands

St. Pancras International has today (29 June 2021) announced the launch of a new retail sustainability initiative, Project Peatlands, to support an essential peatland restoration project in Scotland, in partnership with Forest Carbon, a business that develops nature-based climate projects in the UK.

As part of HS1 Ltd.’s (owners of St. Pancras International) commitment to create a more sustainable and environmentally friendly future and to provide customers with opportunities to make better environmental choices in shopping and travel, they will donate to the restoration of this vital ecosystem on every purchase made.

On average, every four sales made at the station will help prevent a projected 1kg of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere thanks to the restoration project. The target is to prevent a projected⁽²⁾ 3,000,0000 kgs of CO₂e from entering the atmosphere through our contributions to peatland restoration over the next year.

Every purchase, from picking up a daily coffee on the commute, to packing picnic essentials or even fashion essentials for summer staycations, will contribute to the restoration of the Gameshope Loch peatlands in Scotland.

Peatlands are an integral part of the British countryside, storing up to 30 times more carbon per hectare than a healthy tropical rainforest. In the UK alone, peatlands store around three times more carbon than UK forests do⁽¹⁾. These delicate ecosystems are also rich in biodiversity, and home to over 300 insect species, 800 flowering plants and hundreds of types of mosses.

Despite this, over 80 per cent of UK peatlands are currently damaged and emitting an estimated 23 million tonnes of CO₂e each year ⁽³⁾. However, through restoration processes, it is possible to return a proportion of these degraded areas to peat-accumulating, carbon-storing habitats.

At Gameshope Loch, a combination of bare peat revegetation, hagg reprofiling and gully blocking will allow the water table to rise and peat-forming plant species to recolonise the area. These plants lock up carbon when they die and become stored, partially decomposed, as layers of peat below the growing layer of mosses. This Peatland Code verified project will not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but it will also allow the landscape to store more water and support a greater diversity of wildlife, including iconic species like black grouse and hen harriers.

Find out more about Project Peatlands here. 

References:

(1) Certified emissions reduction figures can only be claimed once the restoration is complete and has been independently verified in line with the Peatland Code. St. Pancras International will provide updates on this restoration work as it progresses.

(2) Stafford, R., Chamberlain, B., Clavey, L., Gillingham, P.K., McKain, S., Morecroft, M.D., Morrison-Bell, C. and Watts, O. (Eds.) (2021). Nature-based Solutions for Climate Change in the UK: A Report by the British Ecological Society. London, UK. Available here

(3) [6] Smyth, Mary-Ann & Artz, Rebekka & Taylor, Emily & Evans, Chris & Moxley, Janet & Archer, Nicole & Burden, Annette & Williamson, Jennifer & Donnelly, David & Thomson, Amanda & Buys, Gwen & Malcolm, Heath & Wilson, David & Renou-Wilson, Florence. (2017). Implementation of an Emissions Inventory for UK Peatlands. Available here