When did you last think about how to integrate the UN Global SDGs to your company, your supply chain and your products? – Let’s do this together!

Meo Carbon Solutions recently joined around 200 other representatives of the growing media industry at the German Torf and Humus Day 2023, hosted by Industrieverband Garten eV (IVG). The event offered presentations and discussions on new research, challenges and opportunities for peat reduction alongside a panel discussion between political parties and industry experts.

During the event, Meo had the opportunity to represent the ongoing project on the development of an international certification system for peat substitutes and to make the first public appearance of the system under the new name HORTICERT. HORTICERT is an international certification system that ensures ecological, social and economic sustainability for peat substitutes and growing media.

But why is Meo Carbon Solutions developing an international certification system for peat substitutes? According to the German National Peat Reduction Strategy, the use of peat in hobby gardening must be ended by 2026 and largely reduced in professional landscaping and horticulture by 2030. This is because peat is one of the most common components of potting soil for both hobby gardening and professional landscaping and horticulture. 

However, peatlands are home to rare plants and animals that have adapted to the extreme and unique conditions of bogs around the world, and peat extraction destroys these habitats. Additionally, peatlands store twice as much carbon dioxide as forests, and peat extraction not only eliminates these carbon sinks but also releases high levels of greenhouse gases into our atmosphere.

Stay tuned for more information about HORTICERT as we pave the way for a greener, sustainable future.