Glenk, K, Faccioli, M, Martin-Ortega, J orcid.org/0000-0003-0002-6772 et al. (2 more authors) (2021) The opportunity cost of delaying climate action: Peatland restoration and resilience to climate change. Global Environmental Change, 70. 102323. ISSN 0959-3780
Abstract
Ecosystem restoration and, in particular, peatland restoration, are considered a promising greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation strategy to move towards net zero emissions. To remain within acceptable limits for projected warming scenarios, inaction with respect to GHG mitigation in the short term implies a need for even larger removals of GHGs in the longer term, which can be conceptualized as a ‘mitigation debt’. This paper explores the economic implications of delaying GHG mitigation through ecosystem restoration using data of a large survey (N = 1377) that included a choice experiment to elicit the public’s willingness to pay (WTP) for peatland restoration in Scotland, UK. The valuation specifically considers the interaction between the timing of restoration action and long-term ecosystem resilience. We find that respondents have a substantial WTP for peatland restoration. Importantly, we find considerable benefits for early restoration action (up to £191 million annually in our case study), which is linked to an increased resilience of peatlands under future climate change. This demonstrates that delaying restoration and thus accumulating a mitigation debt has an important opportunity cost that substantially decreases the related economic benefits. Attitudes towards climate change and climate change beliefs are found to explain variation in the public’s WTP. Our research strengthens the economic argument for not delaying climate change mitigation through ecosystem restoration, demonstrating that the mitigation debt also translates into a welfare loss. To fully realise the potential benefits associated with immediate mitigation using peatland restoration, however, more needs to be understood about the mechanisms that facilitate large-scale implementation in practice.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | Climate change mitigation, Net zero emissions, Nature-based solutions, Peatland restoration, Choice experiment, Climate change beliefs, Willingness to pay |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Sustainability Research Institute (SRI) (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) NE/P00783X/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 09 Jul 2021 09:17 |
Last Modified: | 10 Mar 2023 08:53 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102323 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:176033 |