Just 124 people own most of England’s deep peat – its largest carbon store

New report says burning and draining of peatland by grouse moor estates and others adding to climate disaster

Just 124 landowners own the majority of England's deep peat - its single largest carbon store - new analysis has found.

From the low-lying wetlands of the Fens, to the bogs of the North York Moors, 450,000 hectares (1m acres) of peat soils store 584m tonnes of carbon, according to Natural England, equivalent to the annual emissions from 540 coal-fired power stations in the US.