HAUGG Kühlerfabrik has been a member of the “Generation Forest” cooperative since 31 December 2021. The climate protection project in Panama offers private and business investors the opportunity to participate in the reforestation of tropical forests in Panama and thus sustainably reduce their own CO2 footprint.
30.000 m² = 4.2 football fields of rainforest
HAUGG has joined the climate protection project with 60 shares – this corresponds to an area of 30,000m², which will be reforested and renaturalised with our investment. And it will stay that way!
Because the declared goal of “Generation Forest” is to permanently protect the protected rainforest areas from massive deforestation. In order to secure the project financially in the long term, the purchased areas are designed according to the model of the “Generation Forest”:
“The guiding principle of the intergenerational forest:
By this we mean man-made, silviculturally used tropical mixed forests in which trees of several ages (“generations”) co-exist, so that when the timber is harvested, the next generation of trees has already grown up. This creates a tropical permanent forest that regenerates soil, water balance and biodiversity. By mixing different fast-growing tree species, the harvesting time of the individual tree rows varies, which further increases generational diversity.
The generational forest is similar to a natural forest in many respects. It is mostly or entirely stocked with native species and assumes the same ecological functions (habitat for animals and plants, water reservoir, humus formation, etc.), but differs in that – in contrast to natural forests – we plant a drastically higher density of valuable woods and maintain the forest in a silvicultural manner. Thus, on one hectare of generational forest – depending on the state of thinning – there are between 150 and 1100 precious woods. In a natural forest, there is often only one or two trees per hectare that can be classified as marketable precious wood.”– FAQ „Generation Forest“, more under (german only) #UnsereAufforstungsstrategie
Tropical timber against climate change
Weltspiegel report on “The Generation Forest (in german)
Compensation of 60 tonnes of CO2 per year
By joining Generation Forest, HAUGG achieves another partial goal on the way to CO2 neutrality. With our participation with 60 shares in the cooperative, we compensate the equivalent of approx. 60t CO2 per year. For comparison: this corresponds to the amount of emissions that a normal car would emit on a distance of about 400,000 km.
Beyond this aspect, the project has convinced us with many other great benefits: For example, the Generation Forest sets a positive example for sustainable timber management with tropical timber, which opposes the harmful practice of overexploitation, plantations and monocultures and still yields positive returns. (Read more at https://thegenerationforest.com/en/green-investment/)
The near-natural design also promotes biodiversity and creates a habitat for endangered species despite economic use. Through intensive cooperation with the local population, the project creates long-term and fair employment opportunities and thus additionally prevents the emergence of social hardship.
Tropics instead of Europe – the efficiency of the reforestation project
In terms of climate protection, we deliberately chose a reforestation project in the tropics instead of a regional project. While reforestation in Germany takes a long time to have an effect on the climate, tropical forests have already stored a lot of CO2 after just a few years due to their rapid growth. In addition, we can achieve more for the climate with fewer financial resources in the tropics, as the financial outlay per afforested hectare is many times lower. These aspects in combination create a self-reinforcing leverage effect that makes the tropics so interesting for reforestation projects with climate impact. (https://thegenerationforest.com/en/climate-protection/)