• January 17, 2023

GEST: Greenhouse gas Emission Site Type

The GEST method is a simple way to estimate how much CO2 is emitted or stored in peatlands per year. Therefore, the peatland is divided into particles based on vegetation type and average groundwater depth. Each particle is assigned a GEST-type for which the emissions are known. This results in a yearly emission of 14.3 metric tons of CO2 per hectare due to drainage of the valley of the Grote Beek and thus the peat is gradually disappearing. This emission is comparable to the carbon emitted by 1450 cars or the electricity consumption of 920 households. These high emissions occur because the water level still sinks very deeply in summer. After the peatland restoration within this project, these emissions should be seriously reduced.

Average CO2-esmission per hectare per year in each GEST-type.