How sustainable is the use of peat for commercial energy production?

The sustainability argument that more peat grows in Finland than is used does not hold. On designated peatlands, growth is about 85 times slower than peat use; growth elsewhere in Finland does not add to available resources. Claiming undisturbed peatlands as carbon sinks for sustainable peat use is also misleading as anthropogenic carbon sources require additional sinks, not natural ones. Undisturbed peatlands usually emit significant quantities of methane. About 57 000 km(2) of forestry drained peatlands now have effectively stopped emitting methane, and temporarily accumulate more carbon annually than earlier. These greenhouse reducing aspects are only modestly compensated or 'used' by emissions from peat used for energy. However, as forests mature and the peat underneath continues to oxidise, the new carbon sink will eventually turn into a carbon source. Multiple claims of this very same anthropogenic carbon sink (perhaps by the peat, paper and timber industry), i.e. double counting, may be avoided by certifying these sinks. After peat harvesting (liberating in the order of 375 kg atmospheric carbon per m(2)), wood in a production/harvest cycle may be grown (at 0.1 kgC/m(2) per a) on the now available area, as a renewable energy source. These numbers indicate the slow rate at which these cycles, that are in principle carbon neutral in themselves, help compensate for the carbon emissions from the earlier use of peat by avoiding the emissions of fossil fuels otherwise used. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.