Garth Mortimer on scaling peatland restoration at Caledonian Climate

What stands out most to you in Caledonian Climate's journey so far?

What stands out most is the sheer scale of what's been achieved since we started in 2021. We've gone from a small team with a big idea to managing over 60 registered Peatland Code projects across Scotland, with more than 5,500 hectares of degraded peatland restored and over 2 million carbon units established.

Beyond the numbers, the evolution of peatland restoration from a niche conservation activity to a mainstream climate solution that businesses, landowners and government bodies now actively seek out is remarkable. Five years ago, we were making the case for why peatlands mattered. Today, we're managing a portfolio of 80 projects under active management and 25 completed, and fielding interest from organisations that already understand the value.

 

Which projects are you most proud of and what have been the biggest challenges?

It's genuinely hard to single out one project, because the pride comes from the breadth of it. Our peatland restoration projects stretch from Caithness to the Scottish Borders, each with its own landscape, landowner relationship and complexities. Building a portfolio that represents more restoration activity than any other organisation delivering peatland projects registered on the UK Land Carbon Registry is a huge achievement.

Working in remote, sensitive and ever-changing landscapes inevitably brings challenges. We've had to balance the urgency of restoration with the realities of weather, terrain, breeding bird seasons and protected species, all while navigating an evolving funding and regulatory landscape.

We've also had to build the local contractor capacity needed to deliver work at scale in areas where skilled labour is scarce. In many places we've had to grow our own supply chain almost from scratch, which is a slower but ultimately more sustainable way to build the sector's foundations.

 

The natural capital sector has developed rapidly over the last five years. How has Caledonian Climate helped to shape this?

We've tried to lead from the front rather than simply follow the market. Our team has assessed more than 20,000 hectares of degraded peatland in Scotland and delivered more peatland restoration projects than any other organisation in the country, leading the way in registering accredited projects on the UK Land Carbon Registry. That scale of delivery has helped set the standard for high-integrity, verified peatland restoration registered under the Peatland Code.

We've also worked hard to keep pace with the science, bringing in the latest thinking on monitoring and restoration techniques and drawing on the expertise of our Advisory Board to make sure our approach is always grounded in rigorous, evidence-based practice rather than guesswork. In a sector that's matured quickly, credibility and transparency have been just as important as hectares restored.

 

How have partnerships contributed to the organisation’s success?

Every hectare we've restored has depended on trust and collaboration. We rely on landowners and estate managers who are custodians of these landscapes, on public bodies like NatureScot, whose Peatland ACTION programme has been central to funding and enabling restoration at scale, on the ecologists, surveyors and researchers who ensure our work is scientifically sound, and on the local contractors who do the physical work of restoration on the ground, often in genuinely difficult conditions.

We've also built relationships with a growing community of business partners, from whisky producers to global luxury and automotive brands, who are investing in genuine, verified nature-based solutions rather than quick fixes. Through partnerships with bodies like Wetlands International, we're connecting Scotland's peatland restoration story to a wider international movement. Collaboration isn't a nice-to-have; it's the only way this work gets done, and done well.

 

Looking ahead, what opportunities do you see for Caledonian Climate?

The opportunity ahead is to keep scaling what we know works, while continuing to raise the bar for quality and integrity in the natural capital market. There's growing demand from businesses who want authentic, independently verified climate action, and growing recognition among landholders of the value locked up in their land. We want to keep bringing those two groups together.

Our long-term ambition hasn't changed since day one. It is to tackle the climate and nature emergency by restoring peatlands in a way that creates lasting value for everyone involved: the land, the climate, local communities and jobs, and the businesses and landholders we partner with. Five years in, we're more convinced than ever that peatland restoration is one of the fastest, most cost-effective tools we have for genuine climate impact. The next chapter is about doing more of it, doing it even better, and bringing more people along with us on that journey.

 

Thank you to Garth for sharing his thoughts with us. You can hear what our other team members had to say about five years of Caledonian Climate here.