Investing in the timber industry: interview with Erik Reichmuth

The second forest

Timber Finance was founded in 2021 as an asset manager and investment adviser for climate and timber investments. Reichmuth describes timber construction combined with sustainably managed forests as one of the most scalable negative emissions technologies. Every cubic metre of timber used in construction holds one tonne of CO₂, he says, and avoids half a tonne of emissions from steel and concrete. Compared with concrete, savings of about 25 to 50 percent are typical, depending on origin, processing and transport.

The second forest is our buildings and cities, which can keep CO₂ out of the atmosphere for the long term in the form of timber products.

Swiss timber and new instruments

The interview cites the Zwhatt site in Regensdorf and Winterthur as examples of timber high-rises. According to Reichmuth, around 75 percent of the timber used in Switzerland comes from abroad because standard products are cheaper there. Swiss harvesting could rise significantly without overusing the forests. Timber Finance's tracker certificate invests in 21 companies from the European and North American timber industry, from a few hundred francs. Since 2022, Timber Finance had also been developing carbon removal credits with partners, and the pilot phase was starting at the time.

How Timber Carbon sees it

The pilot phase of that time has become an offering for developers. Timber Carbon, launched in 2026 as a spin-off of Timber Finance, quantifies, certifies and monetises the carbon removed in mass timber buildings as carbon removal credits on the voluntary carbon market. If you want to purchase credits from timber buildings, see Buy credits.