In the fight against climate change, Viessmann is expanding its sustainability strategy: Investment in forest and moorland saves climate gases!
Family business acquires more than 1700 hectares in Finland | Trees and moor store a total of 5,200 tons of CO2 per year from the atmosphere.
Allendorf (Eder), Jul 14, 2021 – 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 today.
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." 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."
The area in Finland, which is about the size of 3,500 football fields, is 70 per cent pine, 20 per cent 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 tonnes of CO2 are taken out of the atmosphere every year.
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.
About Viessmann
Viessmann is the leading provider of climate solutions for all living spaces. The ‘Integrated Viessmann Solutions Offering’ enables users to connect products and systems seamlessly via digital platforms and services for climate (heating, cooling, air quality) and refrigeration solutions. All solutions are based on renewable energy and maximum efficiency. All activities of the family company, founded in 1917, are based on its purpose. “We create living spaces for generations to come” – that is the responsibility of the global Viessmann family with 12,750 members.