The Climate Impact of Energy Peat Utilisation in Sweden - the Effect of former Land-Use and After-treatment

The potential climate impact from the use of peat for energy production in Sweden was evaluated in terms of contribution to atmospheric radiative forcing. The calculations consider emissions from combustion and from the peatlands before, during and after harvesting. Four main groups of peatlands in use for peat harvesting were identified: 1. pristine peatlands 2. drained peatlands used for agriculture 3. drained peatlands used for forestry (low productive) 4. peatlands previously (historically) used for peat harvesting The radiative forcing of different scenarios using the mentioned peatland types for energy peat production was calculated, using literature and empirical data related to peat harvesting, at these four types of mires. In the calculations the original land-use was set as reference scenario. The radiative forcing caused by using agricultural peatlands for energy peat production was much lower than for the corresponding use of pristine peatlands and old peat harvesting areas. The calculated value for the radiative forcing of current (20-year period of harvesting and combustion) peat utilisation for energy in a 100-year perspective ranges between 80-90% of the corresponding radiative forcing from using coal and 165-180% from using natural gas. The scenarios for different peatland types and the currently used peatlands show that there is a potential to reduce the radiative forcing caused by energy peat production and utilisation in Sweden by selecting peat harvesting area and after-treatment method. It was concluded that both the greenhouse gas balance of the peatland before harvesting and the aftertreatment methods strongly impact the radiative forcing from energy peat utilisation. The radiative forcing from continuous utilisation of energy peat was also calculated a few scenarios. The results show a slower development than the shorter harvesting/combustion scenarios. Since new peat continuously is burnt it will take longer time before the benefit of the avoided methane emissions at the initial mire and the larger uptake of carbon dioxide at the after-treated area will make an impact.

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