The family-owned company Viessmann has purchased 1,700 hectares of land in the north of Finland. Three quarters of the area is covered with trees, the remaining 28 percent consists largely of moorland. The seller is a fund. This was announced by the company.
Commenting on the investment, Prof. Dr. Markus Pfuhl, Chief Representative of the company, said, "We are thus expanding our sustainability strategy by not only planting a tree for every kilometre walked worldwide as part of our ViMove physical activity campaign, but also acquiring existing forest areas in order to preserve and, if necessary, expand these and the associated moorland areas as long-term CO2 reservoirs to counteract climate change."
Typical and natural composition
The Chief Representative adds, "This is another step entirely in line with our mission statement - as a company, we want to create liveable spaces for future generations."
Experts roughly calculate that trees absorb around one ton of CO2 per year from the atmosphere
The area in Finland, which is about the size of 3,500 football fields, is 70 percent pine, 20 percent spruce, and the rest birch. This is a very typical and natural composition of the vegetation for the region.
Experts roughly calculate that trees absorb around one ton of CO2 per year from the atmosphere for every cubic metre of wood they grow. For the Finnish forest stand newly owned by Viessmann, this means that including the bog areas, 5200 tons of CO2 are taken out of the atmosphere every year.
Nature conservation association
Although moors only cover three percent of the earth's surface, they store around 30 percent of the earth's carbon. According to a nature conservation association, peatlands worldwide bind twice as much CO2 as all forests combined.
It is the clear goal of the family business to leave the peatlands untouched and to manage the forest sustainably. This means that no more wood is taken from the forest than will grow back in the same period of time. If the wood is processed into furniture or used in house construction, the harmful climate gas is kept out of the atmosphere in the long term.