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Peat bogs store up to a third of all terrestrial carbon on Earth, and are one of the largest natural sources of atmospheric methane. Anaerobic degradation of submerged Sphagnum species—mosses that are prevalent in peat bogs across the globe—produces significant quantities of methane in these systems. However, a study on peat mosses in the Netherlands revealed that a large fraction of this methane is consumed by aerobic methane-oxidizing bacteria, known as methanotrophs; in return, the methanotrophs provide Sphagnum mosses with carbon. Here, we show that Sphagnum-associated methane oxidation occurs ubiquitously across the globe. We collected Sphagnum mosses from pools, lawns and hummocks in nine Sphagnum-dominated peatlands across the world, and measured their capacity to oxidize methane in a series of laboratory incubations. All mosses were capable of oxidizing methane. The …