Science & Technology
Aligning Environmental Protection with Economic Opportunity
Peatlands cover just three percent of the Earth’s land surface, yet they store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests combined. This makes them an essential factor in the fight against climate change – but only when they’re left intact, so wet. In Germany, however, just two percent of peatlands remain in their natural state. Most have been drained for agricultural use. The BMW Foundation is helping to change this.
Key Facts
Rewetting petlands
- When drained, peatlands not only lose their ability to store carbon, they also harm the climate by becoming significant sources of carbon emissions.
- In Germany alone, these degraded wetlands release the equivalent of roughly 53 million tons of CO2 each year.
- Restoring peatlands by rewetting them, like the German “ToMOORow” initiative is doing about 90 kilometers north of Berlin in Brandenburg, is urgently needed.
- This approach doesn’t just protect the climate and water resources, it also helps preserve biodiversity.
- The ToMOORow initiative, led by the Michael Succow Foundation, partners in the Greifswald Mire Centre, and the Michael Otto Environmental Foundation, uses the peat meadows in the Sernitz wetlands as a model project.
Alliance of PioneersActivating market forces
Rewetting peatlands offers significant potential for scalable value chains, for example through paludiculture, the practice of cultivating crops on wetland soils. These raw materials can be used to produce packaging, construction materials, insulation, and even high-quality textiles, as demonstrated by British startup Ponda, part of the BMW Foundation’s RESPOND accelerator program. This creates new jobs in rural areas and gives farmers an alternative income source, so restoring wetlands doesn’t mean economic loss. In short, it has to make economic sense.
A new “Alliance of Pioneers,” made up of national and international companies, is now working hand in hand with researchers and farmers to unlock this potential. They aim to align environmental protection with economic opportunity: activating market forces, building new value chains based on wetland biomass, and creating a future-ready agricultural model. Claudia Bühler, Executive Board Member of the Michael Otto Environmental Foundation, sums it up: “We want to give courage to the people, because good solutions already exist.”
Water buffalo in the Sernitz wetlands.
Sernitz wetland landscape. Photo: Marc Beckmann
“We want to give courage to the people, because good solutions already exist.”
Executive Board Member, Michael Otto Environmental Foundation
As part of its sustainability strategy, the BMW Foundation donated €22,000 to the ToMOORow project in 2024 to offset its generated and tracked CO2 emissions. This earmarked donation supports the restoration of 80 hectares of drained peatland in the Sernitz lowlands, located in the UNESCO-designated Schorfheide-Chorin Biosphere Reserve near Angermünde.
The first step involves rewetting the area, removing drainage ditches, and building small dams to retain water. In collaboration with local farmers, the next phase will establish sustainable wetland agriculture using paludiculture. These efforts not only improve water retention in the landscape but also promote the return of native wetland plant and animal species. The project also aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 1,200 tons of CO2 equivalents per year.
The first step involves rewetting the area, removing drainage ditches, and building small dams to retain water. In collaboration with local farmers, the next phase will establish sustainable wetland agriculture using paludiculture. These efforts not only improve water retention in the landscape but also promote the return of native wetland plant and animal species. The project also aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 1,200 tons of CO2 equivalents per year.
The first step involves rewetting the area, removing drainage ditches, and building small dams to retain water. In collaboration with local farmers, the next phase will establish sustainable wetland agriculture using paludiculture. These efforts not only improve water retention in the landscape but also promote the return of native wetland plant and animal species. The project also aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 1,200 tons of CO2 equivalents per year.In early April 2025, the project officially launched with a groundbreaking ceremony. The kick-off marks the start of the ToMOORow initiative, which will run through 2026 and has a total budget of €700,000. Among the attendees were Germany’s then-Ministers of Agriculture and the Environment, Cem Özdemir and Steffi Lemke, whose ministries both support the project. The Greifswald Mire Centre, a hub of expertise at the intersection of science, policy, and practice, provides scientific guidance. “We want to show that we can drive progress together,” said former Environment Minister Steffi Lemke. “Restoring peatlands is one of the most effective tools for climate protection. Projects like this show how we can combine environmental protection with economic opportunity.”
Michael Succow (left) and Michael Otto during the project launch. Photo: Marc Beckmann
 "In April 2025, the project was launched with a ceremony. Photo: Marc Beckmann")
In April 2025, the project was launched with a ceremony. Photo: Marc Beckmann
Water buffalos in the Sernitz wetlands.
PaludiculturePioneering products
That’s also the mission of the Alliance of Pioneers, launched by the ToMOORow initiative. Their goal is to develop and scale markets for paludiculture-based products. Members include companies committed to climate and biodiversity protection, that use regional renewable resources, and appreciate the paludiculture biomass. Some partners are Baufritz, LEIPA, Otto, OTTO WULFF Construction, Procter & Gamble, Sto, STRABAG, and Tengelmann Twenty-One, with KiK and OBI.These partners are testing paludiculture biomass in pilot products, especially focusing on scalability. If successful, these materials will move into industrial production and broader market use. The aim: real-world solutions for systemic change, and planning security for all stakeholders. That’s key, since farmers in the past have had little incentive to maintain wet peatlands due to a lack of stable markets for wetland crops.In a first test, the Otto Group has produced 100,000 packaging boxes using paludiculture biomass. OBI is launching several hundred thousand plant transport containers made from the same material in their home improvement stores. While their previous version was made entirely of paper, the new version uses 10% biomass from reed canary grass. Considering that OBI sells around 46 million plants annually in Germany, many of which are brought home in these containers, this eco-friendly packaging could drive large-scale impact and a shift in consumer awareness. Ideally, it will also highlight the vital role of peatlands, 95% of which have been drained in Germany alone.
Michael Otto about the ToMOORow initiative (German)
“Peatlands are the most efficient ecosystems on the planet,” says biologist Michael Succow, recipient of the “Alternative Nobel Prize” and founder of the Michael Succow Foundation, which owns the 80-hectare site in the Sernitz lowlands. The foundation is a co-initiator of ToMOORow and works on peatland restoration both locally and globally. Its projects combine planning, science, and implementation.Peatlands are not only critical to reaching global climate targets, but they also provide vital habitat for moisture-loving and endangered species, filter pollutants, regulate local climates, and manage water cycles. Protecting them is not just about nature, it’s about securing our future. That’s especially evident in drought-prone Brandenburg, where rainfall in March 2025 was just five percent of normal levels, and wildfires were already a significant threat by spring. So this is also about keeping water within the landscape to stop the continuing destruction of our nature.
"Peatlands are the most efficient ecosystems on the planet."
Founder, Michael Succow Foundation
The Sernitz peat meadow is a first step. It is also a pilot project with the potential to inspire action across Germany and Europe. “The groundbreaking in the Sernitz peatlands shows that combining conservation and agriculture is a promising path forward,” said Michael Otto, Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Michael Otto Environmental Foundation and Honorary Chairman of the Otto Group. “Now we need to scale it up and ensure that policymakers and the agriculture sector work together to restore large areas of peatland and turn wetland biomass into a viable, renewable resource for our regional economy.”
Questions? Contact us.
BMW Foundation Team