Our land – our responsibility
In July 2021, Viessmann purchased 1700 hectares of land in northern Finland. Almost three quarters of the area is covered in trees, with the remaining 28 percent mostly composed of marshes. By acquiring existing forest areas, we hope to preserve them as long-term CO2 and, if necessary, expand them as well. “This is the next step in line with our mission statement: We want to create living spaces for generations to come,” says Prof. Dr. Markus Pfuhl, Chief Representative of Viessmann. To improve the reforestation efforts, we are ensuring that the mix of tree species that we are planting are suitable for the local conditions in the forest, which is about the size of 3500 soccer fields in total.
For #ViMoveForClimate, we are replacing trees that have to be removed during regular forest maintenance measures or due to wind damage. We want to leave the marshlands untouched and manage the forest sustainably. As a result, the forest will remove CO2 from the atmosphere in the coming decades.
Experts calculate that trees absorb around ten kilogram of CO2 from the atmosphere each year for every cubic meter of wood. Although marshlands cover only three percent of the earth’s surface, they store around 30 percent of the earth’s carbon. This means that 5200 tons of CO2 are removed from the atmosphere every year due to our forest in Finland, including the marsh areas.