How carbon removal credits for timber construction support sawlog production

From forest to building

Earlier forest carbon concepts paid for the carbon held in standing timber, which at first led to harvesting being forgone. Since 2022, damage from bark beetles, storms and fires has put many forest projects under pressure. At the same time, there is growing recognition that construction and real estate, responsible for 37 percent of global emissions, must decarbonise. Across the whole chain from forest to installed timber, timber construction is recognised by the IPCC, the UNFCCC and the EU as a negative emissions technology. Fedrizzi sees it as the simplest and most rapidly scalable form of carbon removal, since forests, the timber industry and timber construction already exist.

Part of the revenue goes back to the forest

Since 2022, Timber Finance has been developing a methodology under the VCS standard for the voluntary market. Carbon removals are measured in the load-bearing structure and verified over several years. In the Swiss adaptation, developers do not receive the full payment: as of late 2024, 20 to 30 Swiss francs per cubic metre of sawable roundwood were to flow back to the forest for underfunded measures from regeneration to harvest. The pilot phase calibrates the approach on around 20 timber construction projects and six forest projects, in Graubünden with partners including Holzvermarktung Graubünden AG and the Flims Trin forestry operation.

No forest, no timber construction. But without timber construction, there is no sawlog production either.

How Timber Carbon sees it

The article describes the pilot phase as it stood at the end of 2024. 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. A shorter version appeared in 2025 in the Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Forstwesen, and our technology page explains our methodology.