Project mapping Ireland's peatlands aims to cut carbon emissions

In Ireland's southwest, researchers are using aerial geological surveys to locate hidden peat soils, more accurately pinpointing carbon stores that they say could help fight global warming.

Eve Daly, Geophysicist and Lecturer, University of Galway said "As peat soils contain large amounts of carbon, the outputs of this project has the potential to influence land use policy and, ultimately, the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions from organic peat soils in Ireland."

Land use, including farming and peatland draining, is a major source of Ireland's carbon emissions, which could see the country fail to meet an EU-agreed target to cut emissions by 2030.