MWH, an employee-owned firm based in Warrington, has given the cash to the Lancashire Wildlife Trust to put towards work to reduce carbon emissions from peat land and bogs in the county.

The cash will be used to protect peat land at Cadishead Moss in the east of the county to prevent any more peat being extracted.

Marie Kelly, a graduate engineer at MWH who recommended the Trust for the donation, said: "Peat land is still being dug for fuel and agriculture, and is subsequently drying out and becoming degraded.

"Because of this, peat land is starting to leak the CO2 that has been locked inside it for centuries.

"It is estimated that a 700 sq km area of the southern Pennine hills could alone be leaking CO2 equivalent to a town with a population of 50,000."

Trust spokesman Rosslyn Colderley said ditches in the peat land would be blocked and a ditch dug around the area to contain water.