Early engagement

The government committed more than £750 million to a Nature for Climate Fund (NCF), including for peat restoration and tree planting programmes. As part of this, Natural England (NE) is delivering the Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme (NCPGS). The competitive scheme will run from 2021 to 2025. Please access the guidance document in the attachment area which contains full details of the scheme.

The NCPGS aims to:

• set 35,000ha of degraded peatland in England on a path to restoration by March 2025
• reduce emissions from peat by 5.7 million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent by 2050, with continued reductions after that

These targets are linked to the England Peat Action Plan.

Peatland restoration will also deliver wider environmental and social benefits. It will:

• contribute to the Nature Recovery Network (NRN)
• enhance ecosystems and biodiversity
• improve water quality
• provide natural flood management
• protect the historic environment
• give opportunities for people to connect with nature

The NCPGS includes the Restoration Grant and the Discovery Grant. This advert and attached guidance is for round 3 of the Restoration Grant. Discovery Grants aimed to unlock barriers to peatland restoration. There are no more rounds of Discovery Grants planned.

Restoration Grants fund capital works. They are for projects where any preparatory work and management plans are complete, or mostly complete.

Restoration Grants will provide up to 75% of total project costs. In exceptional circumstances they may offer up to 85%.

2023 Restoration Grant applications can get funding until March 2025. They are for projects where restoration can begin within the 2023 - 2024 restoration season.

Subject to confirmation, we expect to open for the third round of Restoration Grant applications in April 2023, for 8 weeks.

We expect applications for £1 to £2 million across the life of the project, but we will consider other amounts. Funding allocations will be fixed once awarded.

Additional information: The above attachments added are final drafts of the templates that will be required to be populated when submitting an Application.