New CO2 vouchers

“Turbo trees” for less carbon dioxide pollution

Paulownia trees can bind much more CO2 due to their rapid growth.

(Bild: naturevest)

With the development of new CO2 certificates, an eco-company from Lower Austria not only wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also provide alternatives to rainforest timber.

Reducing CO2 emissions is unavoidable in order to minimize the impact of the climate crisis. However, this is not always so easy - or even possible - to achieve. This is where CO2 offsetting comes into play. Institutions, companies or even private individuals can buy certificates - a kind of CO2 voucher - which offset their own emissions by supporting environmentally friendly measures.

Sandler is currently looking after 130,000 trees in Croatia with Naturevest. A further 25,000 are to follow this year.

(Bild: naturevest)

The company Naturevest, based in Kilb in the district of Melk, has now played a leading role in the development of a standard for the new "Proba" certificate. Paulownia trees, which are among the fastest growing tree species in the world, play a key role in this. For months, a methodology for calculating the CO2 sequestration of these plants was developed with the support of the blue-yellow company.

Finding out how much carbon dioxide this tree species can actually absorb was the biggest challenge in developing the new certificate. "We now know all the storage capacities from the roots to the leaves - and that at different stages of growth," says Managing Director Leopold Sandler happily.

The exciting thing about the trees is that they grow up to ten times faster than the tree species we are familiar with. This means that they can also bind more CO2 than conventional wood by this factor.

Leopold Sandler, Geschäftsführer von Naturevest

Bild: naturevest

Plantation with 130,000 trees
Since 2017, a paulownia plantation with around 130,000 trees has been operated on fallow land in Croatia to test these findings. The result: "They grow up to ten times faster than the tree species we are familiar with and can therefore bind that much more CO2," says Sandler. The cost of these certificates is between 50 and 70 euros per ton of CO2.

Other properties make wood interesting
But that's not all: the paulownia tree has a high flash point, is extremely light and, when felled, is an alternative to precious woods felled in the Amazon. Due to its lightness and stability, it is also known as "renewable aluminum". "They can be used for many branches of industry," says Sandler.