Buzzing reinforcement
It is widely known that global bee populations are decreasing. This decline is triggered by urbanization and agriculture, the impacts of climate change, and the widespread use of pesticides. However, losing bees will have catastrophic effects on the entire ecosystem. Ecological sustainability plays a crucial role for us — both in our business decisions and in how we support the communities in which we operate.
We got buzzing reinforcements.
Without bees there is no diversity.
That's why we give more than one million bees a new home in 20 beehives that have been set up on the roof terrace of our headquarters. In mid-May, the 20 colonies arrived at their new location in the 2nd district of Vienna - and are already busy flying out to the neighbouring Prater, the Augarten and the Danube!
Within a flight radius of 3 kilometres around the Austria Campus, the animals will cover about 75 million flight kilometres. Bees generally feel at home in the city: in contrast to many agricultural areas, less or no spraying agents are used. They find largely untreated food sources in blooming front gardens, inner courtyards and on avenue trees.
Liquid gold - we now have it too!
The 20 bee colonies on the roof of our company headquarters produce around 500 kg of the best organic honey per year, which we can pass on to customers, partners and employees as a particularly valuable gift.
For this project we rely on the professional cooperation with the bee centre (BIEZEN - Wiener Honigmanufaktur), a partner who is completely dedicated to organic beekeeping. The cooperation is planned to last several years, and in addition to several thousand jars of honey, the end result is a contribution to preventing the death of insects both immediately and in the long term.
Look, there's one!
Two more bee colonies will be settled in the area of the UniCredit Center Am Kaiserwasser. Environmental education workshops for school classes are planned here from spring 2021. The focus will be on honey production, the causes of bee mortality, the concrete connections to the reality of the pupils' lives and possible solutions to the extinction of species. This also complements the focus on sustainability and responsible consumption that we are placing as part of the financial education initiative.
Registrations for the workshop are accepted by the bee centre (BIEZEN - Wiener Honigmanufaktur, info@ bienenzentrum.wien).
Photos: Lukas Bezila
