← Back to opportunities

Capturing transitional changes in GHG fluxes following peat restoration

DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Buyer Contact Info

Buyer Name: DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Buyer Address: Seacole Building, 2 Marsham Street, London, UKI32, SW1P 4DF, United Kingdom

Contact Name: procurement@defra.gov.uk

Contact Email: procurement@defra.gov.uk

Status
active
Procedure
open
Value
0.0 GBP
Gross: 0.0 GBP
Published
17 Sep 2025, 11:58
Deadline
13 Oct 2025, 11:00
Contract Start
n/a
Contract End
n/a
Category
services
CPV
73200000 - Research and development consultancy services
Region
n/a
Awarded To
n/a
Official Source
Open Find a Tender

Description

There is approximately 1,420,000 hectares of peat in England, with deep peat accounting for approximately 680,000 hectares. However, the majority of our deep peat is degraded, damaged and dried out, with only 13% of deep peat remaining in a near natural state. As a result, peatlands in England emit approximately 8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, about 2% of England's total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. There is an urgent need to re-wet peatlands to abate these GHG emissions to meet our net zero targets. In Carbon Budget 7, the Climate Change Committee recommends that by 2040, peatland restoration should represent over 50% of the emissions savings in land use, and 17% of the savings in the agriculture and land use sector. Peatland restoration targets have been set in the 2023 Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP), with an aim to restore 280,000 hectares by 2050. When peat is restored or re-wet, it moves from a degraded condition category to a restored or re-wet condition category in the UK National GHG Inventory using an IPCC Tier 2 methodology. This move is treated as a step-change without considering any transition between the two steady states. However, it has been hypothesised that this methodology is failing to consider a significant transitional removal of CO2 when a heavily degraded peat is restored. Thus, the CO2 sequestration potential of peat restoration may have been significantly underestimated. To date, the abatement potential of peat restoration has focused only on avoided emissions, however, the potential transitional removal of CO2 could make peat restoration a significant net greenhouse gas removal (GGR), which would be a game changer for attracting carbon finance. The report by Evans et al (2022) on ‘Aligning the Peatland Code with the UK Peatland Inventory’, proposes a model for capturing transitional changes in GHG fluxes post-restoration for CO2. However, this model needs to be refined and validated before it can be used to support investment in peat restoration or to understand the transitional removal of CO2 and its contribution to emissions savings. Therefore, research is required to refine and validate the model approach and to establish the criteria and method for how transitional CO2 uptake could be applied within the National GHG inventory and the Peatland Code.

Linked Documents

Select a document to preview.

Opportunity Context

More Information Links

External Link: https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/057307-2025

Link Description: Tender notice on Find a Tender

Lots

Lot 1 Status: active

Lot 1 Value: GBP 0.00

Lot 1 Value (Gross): GBP 0.00

Lot 1 Contract Start: 2025-11-13T00:00:00Z

Lot 1 Contract End: 2028-03-31T23:59:59+01:00

Lot 1 SME Suitable: Yes

Lot 1 Award Criterion (quality): Technical (70%)

Lot 1 Award Criterion (price): Commercial (30%)

Documents

Document Description: Not published

Document Description: Bidding Documents

Document Description: Tender notice on Find a Tender

Raw Notice JSON

Expand raw payload
{
  "buyer": {
    "id": "GB-PPON-PNBD-3289-CDGX",
    "name": "DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS"
  },
  "date": "2025-09-17T12:58:32+01:00",
  "id": "057307-2025",
  "initiationType": "tender",
  "language": "en",
  "ocid": "ocds-h6vhtk-059b45",
  "parties": [
    {
      "address": {
        "country": "GB",
        "countryName": "United Kingdom",
        "locality": "London",
        "postalCode": "SW1P 4DF",
        "region": "UKI32",
        "streetAddress": "Seacole Building, 2 Marsham Street"
      },
      "contactPoint": {
        "email": "procurement@defra.gov.uk",
        "name": "procurement@defra.gov.uk"
      },
      "details": {
        "classifications": [
          {
            "description": "Public authority - central government",
            "id": "publicAuthorityCentralGovernment",
            "scheme": "UK_CA_TYPE"
          }
        ],
        "url": "https://defra-family.force.com/s/Welcome"
      },
      "id": "GB-PPON-PNBD-3289-CDGX",
      "identifier": {
        "id": "PNBD-3289-CDGX",
        "scheme": "GB-PPON"
      },
      "name": "DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS",
      "roles": [
        "buyer"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "planning": {
    "noEngagementNoticeRationale": "A preliminary market engagement notice has not been published. The internal customer has decided to progress the strategy via this route (open tender process) as opposed to RDE Framework. The RDE Framework and other Defra Framework routes were considered however the customer wishes to enable broader supplier engagement because the suppliers with the most relevant specialist skills and experience within the Frameworks are likely already at capacity working on Defra funded peatland research"
  },
  "tag": [
    "tenderUpdate"
  ],
  "tender": {
    "aboveThreshold": true,
    "amendments": [
      {
        "description": "Updating contract end date to 31/03/2028 and adding more information to the description of services",
        "id": "057307-2025"
      }
    ],
    "awardPeriod": {
      "endDate": "2025-11-11T23:59:59Z"
    },
    "coveredBy": [
      "GPA"
    ],
    "description": "There is approximately 1,420,000 hectares of peat in England, with deep peat accounting for approximately 680,000 hectares. However, the majority of our deep peat is degraded, damaged and dried out, with only 13% of deep peat remaining in a near natural state. As a result, peatlands in England emit approximately 8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, about\u202f2% of\u202fEngland\u0027s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. \nThere is an urgent need to re-wet peatlands to abate these GHG emissions to meet our net zero targets. In Carbon Budget 7, the Climate Change Committee recommends that by 2040, peatland restoration should represent over 50% of the emissions savings in land use, and 17% of the savings in the agriculture and land use sector. Peatland restoration targets have been set in the 2023 Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP), with an aim to restore 280,000 hectares by 2050. \nWhen peat is restored or re-wet, it moves from a degraded condition category to a restored or re-wet condition category in the UK National GHG Inventory using an IPCC Tier 2 methodology. This move is treated as a step-change without considering any transition between the two steady states. However, it has been hypothesised that this methodology is failing to consider a significant transitional removal of CO2 when a heavily degraded peat is restored. Thus, the CO2 sequestration potential of peat restoration may have been significantly underestimated. To date, the abatement potential of peat restoration has focused only on avoided emissions, however, the potential transitional removal of CO2 could make peat restoration a significant net greenhouse gas removal (GGR), which would be a game changer for attracting carbon finance. \nThe report by Evans et al (2022) on \u2018Aligning the Peatland Code with the UK Peatland Inventory\u2019, proposes a model for capturing transitional changes in GHG fluxes post-restoration for CO2. However, this model needs to be refined and validated before it can be used to support investment in peat restoration or to understand the transitional removal of CO2 and its contribution to emissions savings. \nTherefore, research is required to refine and validate the model approach and to establish the criteria and method for how transitional CO2 uptake could be applied within the National GHG inventory and the Peatland Code.",
    "documents": [
      {
        "description": "Not published",
        "documentType": "conflictOfInterest",
        "id": "conflictOfInterest"
      },
      {
        "description": "Bidding Documents",
        "documentType": "biddingDocuments",
        "format": "application/pdf",
        "id": "A-5261",
        "url": "https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/A-5261"
      },
      {
        "datePublished": "2025-09-17T12:58:32+01:00",
        "description": "Tender notice on Find a Tender",
        "documentType": "tenderNotice",
        "format": "text/html",
        "id": "057307-2025",
        "noticeType": "UK4",
        "url": "https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/057307-2025"
      }
    ],
    "enquiryPeriod": {
      "endDate": "2025-10-06T12:00:00+01:00"
    },
    "id": "ocds-h6vhtk-059b45",
    "items": [
      {
        "additionalClassifications": [
          {
            "description": "Research and development consultancy services",
            "id": "73200000",
            "scheme": "CPV"
          }
        ],
        "deliveryAddresses": [
          {
            "country": "GB",
            "countryName": "United Kingdom",
            "region": "UKI"
          }
        ],
        "id": "1",
        "relatedLot": "1"
      }
    ],
    "legalBasis": {
      "id": "2023/54",
      "scheme": "UKPGA",
      "uri": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents"
    },
    "lots": [
      {
        "awardCriteria": {
          "criteria": [
            {
              "description": "Quality",
              "name": "Technical",
              "numbers": [
                {
                  "number": 70.0,
                  "weight": "percentageExact"
                }
              ],
              "type": "quality"
            },
            {
              "description": "Price",
              "name": "Commercial",
              "numbers": [
                {
                  "number": 30.0,
                  "weight": "percentageExact"
                }
              ],
              "type": "price"
            }
          ]
        },
        "contractPeriod": {
          "endDate": "2028-03-31T23:59:59+01:00",
          "startDate": "2025-11-13T00:00:00Z"
        },
        "id": "1",
        "selectionCriteria": {
          "criteria": [
            {
              "description": "Please see Bidder Pack Part Two",
              "type": "economic"
            },
            {
              "description": "Please see Bidder Pack Part Two",
              "type": "technical"
            }
          ]
        },
        "status": "active",
        "suitability": {
          "sme": true,
          "vcse": true
        },
        "value": {
          "amount": 0.0,
          "amountGross": 0.0,
          "currency": "GBP"
        }
      }
    ],
    "mainProcurementCategory": "services",
    "procurementMethod": "open",
    "procurementMethodDetails": "Open procedure",
    "status": "active",
    "submissionMethodDetails": "https://atamis-9529.my.site.com/s/Welcome",
    "submissionTerms": {
      "electronicSubmissionPolicy": "allowed",
      "languages": [
        "en"
      ]
    },
    "tenderPeriod": {
      "endDate": "2025-10-13T12:00:00+01:00"
    },
    "title": "Capturing transitional changes in GHG fluxes following peat restoration",
    "value": {
      "amount": 0.0,
      "amountGross": 0.0,
      "currency": "GBP"
    }
  }
}