Profitable timber boom: investing with impact in timber

From hardwood plantations to the timber construction chain

According to Swiss Sustainable Finance, the volume of sustainable investments in Switzerland grew by 30 percent to CHF 1,982.7 billion, with sustainable mandates up 109 percent. In the past, direct investments in hardwood plantations were in demand. Since the timber turnaround of 2020, Reichmuth sees opportunities with higher added value that focus on long-term carbon retention in timber construction products. According to co-founder Thomas Fedrizzi, the first structured products such as the Timber Carbon Capture & Storage Index make investment decisions easier. Timber funds for SMEs in the DACH region, timber construction mortgages and timber-focused real estate funds were also under development.

One of the simplest, most scalable and most cost-effective solutions for the climate and for decarbonising the construction industry is timber construction.

Carbon removals as a new source of income

The quote comes from Stefan Zöllig, founder of Timbatec and co-founder of the initiative. In Switzerland alone, around 1 million cubic metres of additional timber could be used in construction every year without reducing forest area, he says, equivalent to 1 million tonnes of CO₂ removed. Cement plants account for more than 6 percent of Switzerland's CO₂ emissions. The article expects a carbon market of 30 billion dollars by 2030, in which carbon removal credits fetch the highest prices, and points to the UNFCCC's recognition of “Timber in Construction” in July 2022.

How Timber Carbon sees it

How the credits were to be designed at the time is described in the Holzrevue 10/11 2022 article, and Thomas Fedrizzi explored the investment side further in a guest article in Handelszeitung in 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.