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Dirk Röthig (international: Dirk Roethig) — CEO of VERDANTIS Impact Capital. Focused on sustainable investments in paulownia agroforestry and clean energy across Europe. dirkroethig.com
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Dirk Röthig
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By Dirk Roethig, freelance journalist and environmental consultant
The United Nations has been sounding the alarm for years: one million species are threatened with extinction, and global biodiversity is shrinking at an alarming rate (IPBES, 2019). At the same time, pressure on agricultural land is increasing — more food, more timber, more biomass on less space. What if a single tree could address both crises simultaneously? The answer comes from a combination of groundbreaking European research and millennia-old Chinese tradition: Paulownia polyculture systems.
At the Campus Klein-Altendorf of the University of Bonn, the pioneering researcher Prof. Dr. Ralf Pude has been working for nearly two decades on the future of renewable raw materials. As scientific director of the 180-hectare research site — with 5,000 square metres of greenhouses and more than 100 experiments annually — he has laid the scientific foundation for commercial Paulownia cultivation in Central Europe.
"The construction industry needs to think outside the box more often," Pude urged in a 2024 interview with Gebäudeforum (Pude, 2024). By this he means not only new materials, but an entirely new way of thinking about the relationship between agriculture, forestry, and biodiversity. Dirk Roethig, who as an environmental consultant has been following developments in the agroforestry sector for years, sees in Pude's research "a paradigm shift that extends far beyond agricultural science."
Pude's long-term studies show that sterilised Paulownia hybrids can withstand temperatures down to -25°C and are ideally suited as a polyculture component in European agroforestry systems (INRES, University of Bonn). In the Workbox Meckenheim — the first building in Germany constructed entirely from renewable raw materials — his team demonstrated practical applicability across 21.6 square metres: Paulownia as structural timber, flooring, and interior cladding, Miscanthus as insulation and wall panelling (University of Bonn, 2020). Prof. Pude aptly calls Paulownia "the aluminium among timbers" — light, stable, and versatile.
What is being researched at laboratory scale in Bonn has long been reality across millions of hectares in China. The Paulownia Research and Development Center of the Chinese Academy of Forestry in Zhengzhou, founded in 1984, is the world's largest research institution dedicated exclusively to Paulownia — with six professors and around 70 staff members.
Under the leadership of pioneer Prof. Zhu Zhaohua, up to 2.5 million hectares were planted with Paulownia on the North China Plain, of which 1.3 million hectares are intercropping systems with winter wheat (Zhu et al., 1986). The principle is elegant: the late leaf emergence of Paulownia gives wheat sufficient light for flowering and grain filling, while the different root distributions make more efficient use of water and nutrients.
The mixed cultivation alleviates the chronic shortage of timber, fuel, and fodder while simultaneously increasing agricultural production and soil protection (Iowa State University CARD, 1991). Zhu's International Farm Forestry Training Centre has trained more than 240 scientists from Asia, Africa, and the Americas in Paulownia agroforestry since 1991.
Paulownia flowers are a biodiversity booster: the large, bell-shaped blossoms appear in spring before the leaves emerge and provide nectar and pollen for hundreds of insect species — including honeybees, wild bees, bumblebees, and butterflies. In monoculture landscapes where flowering strips are absent and pesticides decimate insect populations, a single Paulownia alley can stabilise the local pollinator ecosystem.
In polyculture systems, Paulownia rows function as biodiversity corridors: they connect isolated woodland islands, provide nesting sites for birds, shelter for small mammals, and hunting grounds for natural pest controllers such as bats and birds of prey. Research at the Chinese Academy of Forestry has shown that Paulownia-wheat intercropping systems improve microclimatic conditions — lower wind speeds, more uniform soil moisture, reduced temperature fluctuations (Springer, Agroforestry Systems, 2008).
Paulownia's deep root system breaks up compacted soils and promotes mycorrhizal formation — those symbiotic fungal networks known as the "Wood Wide Web" that enable nutrient transport between plants. In combination with nitrogen-fixing companion plants, a self-regulating soil ecosystem emerges that requires neither artificial fertilisers nor pesticides.
The decisive advantage of Paulownia lies not only in its living CO₂ sequestration, but in the permanent carbon storage in the built timber. And here a property becomes apparent that sets Paulownia apart from virtually all other timbers: Paulownia does not absorb moisture.
While conventional timbers swell at high humidity and shrink when dry — leading to cracks, warping, and structural damage — Paulownia wood remains dimensionally stable. The extremely low shrinkage coefficients (radial 0.094, tangential 0.268) are almost unique in wood science (iPaulownia, 2024; Wood Database). This moisture resistance explains why Paulownia has been used for centuries in boat building, for surfboards, and even in Japanese instrument making — wherever moisture and climate changes would destroy conventional timbers.
The further material properties are equally impressive:
Commercial implementation is already a reality: The KiriCube system by KIRITEC/DERIX demonstrates Paulownia CLT modules for solid timber construction. WeGrow AG, since its IPO in September 2024 the largest European Paulownia supplier, is driving industrialisation forward. In Japan, the Kiri-Tansu tradition has proven that Paulownia furniture can last 100 to 150 years.
A particularly striking example is provided by Lankao County in Henan. The region, once one of China's poorest areas, has transformed itself through Paulownia cultivation and processing: more than 6,000 furniture companies and 200+ musical instrument manufacturers operate there, with a 33 percent national market share in musical instruments.
The nearby Caoxian/Heze in Shandong is China's largest Paulownia processing base: 3 million cubic metres of Paulownia timber per year, a production value of 50 billion yuan (7.82 billion USD). These figures demonstrate that Paulownia-based bioeconomy is not only an ecological success story, but an economic one as well.
Companies such as VERDANTIS Impact Capital are transferring this successful model to Europe. With Paulownia agroforestry systems built on Prof. Pude's research, they offer the most cost-effective way to achieve CO₂ neutrality while simultaneously generating tradeable carbon credits. CO₂ sequestration rates range from 9–40 tonnes of carbon per hectare per year under European conditions — at optimal management exceeding 60 tonnes CO₂/ha/year (Frontiers in Environmental Science, 2024).
The dual effect makes the difference: the living tree sequesters CO₂ during growth, and the harvested, moisture-resistant timber stores the carbon permanently in the built structure. With each harvest cycle (8–12 years) and coppice regrowth — Paulownia regrows from the stump within 3–5 years without replanting — this cycle is reinforced.
A common misconception concerns invasiveness: in the programmes of VERDANTIS and Prof. Pude, exclusively sterilised Paulownia hybrids are used, which produce no viable seeds. In German open-field trials, the germination rate was zero percent (Paulownia Baumschule Schröder, 2024). The hybrids withstand temperatures down to -25°C.
It is high time to place sterilised Paulownia hybrids on the EU Green List — as a recommended species for sustainable land use and agroforestry systems.
Paulownia polyculture systems are not a theoretical construct — they are a proven technology that works across 2.5 million hectares in China and is scientifically underpinned in Europe by Prof. Ralf Pude. A tree that promotes biodiversity, sequesters CO₂, delivers moisture-resistant construction timber, and economically transforms entire regions.
The question is not whether Europe should seize this opportunity, but how quickly.
Dirk Roethig is a freelance journalist and environmental consultant with a focus on agroforestry, carbon credits, and sustainable finance. Contact: dirk.roethig2424@gmail.com
Tags: Paulownia, Biodiversity, Polyculture, Agroforestry, Prof Ralf Pude, Carbon Credits, CLT, Sustainable Building Material, VERDANTIS, Dirk Roethig, Moisture Resistance, Chinese Academy of Forestry
Meta-Description: Paulownia polyculture systems as a biodiversity booster: Prof. Pude's research, China's 2.5 million hectares, and the moisture-resistant wonder wood as a building material.
Von Dirk Röthig (Dirk Roethig)