The Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme (NCPGS) provides funding to restore peatlands in the uplands and lowlands of England. It is a competitive grant scheme that will run until 2025.

The scheme is open to environmental groups, local authorities, charities, public bodies, individual landowners and organisations.

Natural England is looking for landscape scale applications that work to restore the whole hydrological unit of a peatland. This is likely to involve a number of sites and landowners, so applications from partnerships are encouraged.

Applicants must have the authority to carry out the activities in their proposal. For example, if you do not own the land, you need permission from the landowner as part of your application.

You cannot apply for funding for activities that have already been funded through other sources.

Objectives of the Scheme

You must be able to show in your application how your proposal will deliver the scheme’s objectives.

The objectives are to:

• reduce emissions from peat by 9 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents cumulatively by 2050
• establish the process of restoring 35,000 hectares of degraded peat in England by March 2025
• provide wider benefits such as improved ecosystems and biodiversity, better water quality, natural flood management, protection of historic environment features, and connecting people with nature

Grants Available 

Two types of grant are available:

• restoration grant - the first round is open for applications from 30 April 2021 to 25 June 2021
• discovery grant - the first round will open for applications at a date to be confirmed

The 2 grants support different phases of a project. The same applicant can apply for both grants in the same year, as long as each application is for different sites.

Restoration grants fund landscape scale restoration work on degraded peatlands in England. You can normally apply for up to 75% of the total project costs.

In exceptional cases, you can apply for up to 85% of the cost. It’s an exceptional case if it’s both:

• a project that offers unique and significant environmental benefits that could not be achieved through commonly used restoration techniques alone (for example, the use of innovative techniques for the re-introduction of rare peatland species)
• from organisations or partnerships that have constraints over their ability to secure other funding

Projects judged as exceptional still need to score highly against all the assessment criteria.

Discovery grants support applicants to gather the information they will need to apply for a restoration grant in future rounds.You can apply for up to 100% of funds for these projects.

How to Apply

You need to register and apply through Defra’s eSourcing portal. If you’re already registered you’ll only need to log on with your details.If you need help with the registration process, call 0800 368 4850 or email help@bravosolution.co.uk

After you Apply

Natural England will consider your application once the application window closes. This can take up to 2 months and Natural England may ask you to clarify details. They will do this through the e-Sourcing portal. You will receive an email you with the outcome of your application. You’ll be able to request feedback on your application if it is unsuccessful.