A new permanent garden is set to open at Kew Gardens.
The Carbon Garden, which is set to open in July 2025, will tell the story of carbon, the scale of the climate crisis, and how we can use nature to combat it.
The garden will also feature a central installation inspired by fungi and created using natural materials.
The Carbon Garden will encourage visitors to become advocates for nature.
The garden has been made possible by Biffa Award funding.
Richard Wilford, designer of the Carbon Garden and manager of garden design at RBG Kew, said: "The Carbon Garden offers a unique opportunity to showcase our ongoing research, combining scientific insight with thoughtful design and beautiful planting to highlight the role of carbon in our lives, how it moves through the environment and how plants and fungi can help us tackle climate change.
"We hope the Carbon Garden inspires visitors to act and join us in shaping a more sustainable, resilient future for life on our planet."
The garden will feature a curated selection of herbaceous perennials, illustrating the dramatic rise in global average temperatures over time.
This visual statement will welcome visitors into the garden, alongside a soil profile, a rocky outcrop, and an exposed coal seam showing fossilised plants, highlighting the connection between plants and fossil fuels.
A dry garden will showcase ways we can work together with plants to adapt to a changing climate.
Here, drought-tolerant and Mediterranean plants from hotter climates will dominate, illustrating the plants we might look to for London gardens in 30 years.
At least 26 new trees will be planted, selected for their resilience to projected future climate conditions.
A rain garden and bioswale will illustrate the ways we can manage water flow, prevent soil erosion, reduce flooding, recharge moisture into the soil, and support moisture-tolerant plants that maintain soil stability and carbon storage.
Grasslands, wildflower meadows, and native hedgerows will boost biodiversity, as biodiverse habitats are more resilient and better at storing carbon than monocultures.
A central pavilion, designed by Mizzi Studio, will appear to grow from the garden as a symbolic fungal fruiting body.
It will be created using low-carbon, natural materials.
A forward-tilted canopy will direct rainwater into the rain garden, and sheltered space will support school visits and community activities.
Rachel Maidment, Biffa Award grants manager, said: "We are immensely proud to support the Carbon Garden, which will educate and inspire visitors about the vital role of carbon in our environment.
"Through the Landfill Communities Fund, we are committed to funding projects that have a lasting positive impact on both people and the planet.
"We are particularly excited that this garden will not only showcase Kew’s research but will also serve as a hub for learning, demonstrating how collective action can drive real environmental change.
"Biffa Award is honoured to play a role in bringing this vision to life."
The Carbon Garden is a part of Kew Gardens' celebration of trees.
Alongside The Power of Trees exhibition in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, and Of the Oak, an outdoor installation by Marshmallow Laser Feast, there are a host of ways to enjoy the wonder of Kew’s collections.
RBG Kew is leading research into carbon capture and the role plants play in mitigating climate change.
Scientists at Wakehurst, Kew’s wild botanic garden in Sussex, are examining how various ecosystems, including grasslands and woodlands, contribute to carbon sequestration through a dynamic research programme, Nature Unlocked.
This aims to inform conservation strategies and land management practices.
Simultaneously, horticulturists and arboriculturists at Kew Gardens are researching the trees of the future, using Kew’s 11,000 trees to assess species resilience.
These projects are working to determine which plants will not only thrive in a changing climate but also contribute to the mitigation of the climate crisis.
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