In addition to locking in carbon, healthy peatlands can support biodiversity and contribute to local water quality. 

Despite this importance, roughly 80% of Scotland’s peatlands are degraded. The reasons for degradation range from the drainage of peatlands for agriculture and commercial forestry, grazing management, the expansion of energy infrastructure like windfarms, and extraction for industry use and home heating.

In their degraded state, peatlands not only emit carbon but can increase flood risk, harm biodiversity, and release sediment into waterways. 

Most peat extracted annually for use in Scotch Whisky production is sourced from independent suppliers by third-party maltsters. Malting companies produce the peated malt that is sold to distillers, but a select number of Scotch Whisky producers maintain their own malting facilities and their own extraction site. Overall, there are nine facilities which produce peated malt for the industry, each using a small number of peat sources.  

Commitment to Responsible Peat Use 

All must be addressed to ensure we are responsible users of this unique resource.

In 2025, the commitment was refreshed by the SWA’s Peat Supply Chain Working Group, a group of key peat-dependent Scotch Whisky producers, industry scientists from the Scotch Whisky Research Institute (SWRI) and representatives from the Maltsters’ Association of Great Britain (MAGB). The report will continue to be biennially reviewed and reissued to ensure that we reflect the current priorities in peatland protection.

RESPONSIBLE EXTRACTION

The SWA will require the highest environmental standards of care to be applied to its members’ extraction sites as determined by expert advice and site-specific restoration plans. We will work with independent experts to develop a best practice standard in peat extraction for the industry.

Following the publication of the National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) by the Scottish Government, new protections have been introduced for Scotland’s peatlands that determine when future extraction licences will be granted. Under NPF4, proposals for new commercial peat extraction, including extensions to existing sites, are not supported except in very limited circumstances. One of these circumstances is when the extraction activity is solely in the service of the Scotch Whisky industry. Such sites are still required to abide by a robust site restoration plan which will progressively restore, over a reasonable timescale, the area of extraction to a functioning peatland system capable of achieving carbon sequestration.

The protection of peatlands has now been further supported by Scotland’s Peatland Standard that provides a technical framework that supports the implementation of Scottish Government policies and objectives for the protection, management, and restoration of peatlands.

The SWA welcomes the increased protections for peatlands which are provided through NPF4 and the Peatland Standard and we will do all we can to support the ongoing regulation of peat extraction. Under the CRPU, members of the SWA are committed to take the initiative to not only meet their legal obligations as peat consumers and harvesters, but to exceed them. Consequently, the SWA will leverage its influence to work alongside member companies and supply chain partners to ensure the highest standards continue to be applied across the peat supply chain.

To achieve this, we are supporting Scotch Whisky distillers, maltsters, and partners with simple, accessible expert information on best practice in peat extraction and information on extending permissions, with clarity on requirements from Scottish Government and guidance from leading authorities such as Peatland Action. We’re also facilitating site visits, enabling site managers to share key learnings with other stakeholders, demonstrate process towards implementation of their restoration plans, and hold themselves to account to meet the required standards of care.

Minimising impact

The methods of peat extraction used in sites that provide for the Scotch Whisky industry are varied, from ‘deep-dug’ methods with heavy machinery for full depth extraction sites, tractor-pulled ‘sausage’ or ‘screw’ extruders to other, often smaller-scale sites which still employ

traditional cutting methods. The potential impacts these different methods have on the surface flora and the peat are also varied; each with advantages and disadvantages.

The SWA is publishing guidance for members on how to assess extraction methods, with optimal draining techniques, run-off control, vegetation placement and other examples of best practice to be considered and employed where possible. All effort must be made to maximise a site’s restoration potential by minimising the effect of extraction methods.

Our principles of responsible peat extraction

The SWA strongly supports the work of its members to deliver responsible peat extraction. One way in which the SWA has supported member companies to do so is by working with the Scottish Environment, Food, Agriculture Research Institutions (SEFARI) to develop a bespoke research opportunity. This project aimed to inform the SWA’s understanding of best practice in peat extraction whilst aligning with the UN’s Sustainability Development Goals as well as the Scottish Government’s National Outcomes.

Supported by the SWA, the Scottish Government and our supply chain partners, a small research team set out in 2025 to analyse the peat extraction methods employed in Scotland and beyond in terms of their cost, complexity, scale and impact on the environment. As part of this research, the SWA was interested in learning which extraction methods caused minimal harm and enabled the most effective restoration following the end of permitted extraction. The research team also reviewed a range of peatland restoration methods used across the globe to determine which are best employed on peatland subjected to extraction activity.

Taking all of these findings into account, a guidance document was developed for the Scotch Whisky industry outlining a series of principles that should be applied to our peat extraction sites. This guidance, titled ‘Principles of Responsible Peat Extraction for the Scotch Whisky Industry’, has since been shared across the SWA’s membership and the wider supply chain.

The SWA’s five principles of responsible peat extraction are below:

1. Select. Site selection should be guided by assessment that considers long-term impacts.

2. Minimise. Use low impact methods confined to degraded areas that maintain water tables.

3. Restore. Harvesting must be paired with robust restoration plans aligned to best practise.

4. Develop. Research ways to reduce impact and to lower the need for peat where possible.

5. Collaborate. Extractors must cultivate effective relationships with affected stakeholders.

In promoting these principles, the SWA aims to ensure that peat is extracted by our industry in a manner that is as sustainable as possible: dealing minimal harm to the surface of the peatland; limiting emissions from exposed tracts; and leaving an extracted area in a condition that ensures it can be most effectively restored through an ambitious restoration plan.

OPTIMISATION & EFFICIENCY

The SWA will work closely with SWRI and MAGB to support research to increase the efficiency of the process to make peated malt to reduce emissions and optimise peat use.

An important element of using peat responsibly is optimising the peat we harvest. Maximising the efficiency of the malting process helps minimise overall emissions produced from burning peat and further reduce the amount required by the industry.

To achieve this, the SWA works closely with MAGB’s Kiln Efficiency Working Group and SWRI’s Peat Research Group to identify ways to increase efficiency and reduce emissions associated with peat use in malting operations.

The priorities of SWRI’s Peat Research Group include:

• Increasing our understanding of congeners (chemical components) responsible for peaty flavours to allow better monitoring of peat within the malting process
• Improving efficiency in the kilning process by understanding the parameters required to optimise generation of peat smoke and its adhesion to malt
• Decreasing the losses of peat congeners in the whisky making process
• Assessing novel ways to change the kilning process as it’s defined within the Technical File for Scotch Whisky

PEATLAND RESTORATION & STEWARDSHIP

The SWA will promote peatland restoration efforts across the industry by strengthening the relationships between member companies and the bodies spearheading restoration. As industry leaders, we will drive an increase in peatland restoration undertaken by our membership.

The Scottish Government has committed to invest £250m to restore 250,000 hectares of degraded peatland by 2030. This multi-annual investment will deliver peatland restoration activities through a number of partners in public, private and third sectors, part of which is co-ordinated by NatureScot.

Beyond this, many distillers are already engaged in the active restoration of peatland that goes beyond their potential obligations relating to their peat extraction sites. In the past number of years, the industry has conducted many such restoration projects – some of which can be learned about below – with many more in various stages of planning.

This will not only ensure that the Scotch Whisky industry is aligned with those most knowledgeable of Scotland’s peatlands, but that the SWA can offer effective guidance to our expanding membership on how to best engage in peatland restoration in years to come.

The SWA is now also aiming to develop a toolkit for peatland restoration for its members that builds off the research collated through the SEFARI project. This toolkit will outline available support and funding and will be aimed at smaller distillers interested in engaging in peatland restoration.