Postbank
Postbank team planted over 2,000 saplings on International Earth Day – 22 April – as part of the large-scale initiative Sofia's New Forest – 2. Over 100 volunteers from the financial institution contributed time, work and effort to the reforestation of new woodlands in the suburban areas of Sofia, in the land of the village of Negovan. Postbank joined the project for the second year in a row, as part of its overall internal environmental protection programme Green Together with Postbank and in line with the company's long-standing sustainability policy. Under the motto Lend a Hand to Sofia's New Forest, the institution's team planted over 1,000 trees on the designated site last year. The plan for the spring edition of the campaign in 2023 is to reforest 32 new decares with a total of 20,000 deciduous saplings of the tree species Cerris (a member of the Oak genus).
"Every socially responsible initiative in which Postbank's team volunteers is very important for us because it symbolizes our constant efforts to build a new type of thinking and attitude towards the environment and the conservation of natural resources. Our participation in Sofia's New Forest – 2 for a second year in a row is even more special now, as we carried it out on International Earth Day, and we were able to plant a record number of saplings, thanks to the team spirit and joint efforts of our close-knit team. Motivated by our shared values and vision for a greener future, together we strive for sustainable development and more environmentally friendly behaviour for the well-being of the whole society," Postbank said.
The forest near the village of Negovan is part of the large-scale project Sofia's New Forest – 2, with which Sofia Municipality is planting new woodlands in suburban areas of the city as part of measures to improve air quality. The initiative was launched last spring and aims to turn a total of 137 decares of municipal unusable agricultural land in the area of the village of Negovan, Novi Iskar district, into a forest. After the two reforestation campaigns in 2022, a total of 30,500 Cerris saplings are already growing on the site on a total area of 48.8 decares.
Postbank's multi-layered corporate social responsibility policy includes a number of significant projects in the fields of education, entrepreneurship, environmental protection, sports and corporate donations. One of its main areas is green initiatives, because caring for the environment has a special place for the institution. It is part of its business model and among the top priorities for management. Among the largest of these are Green Outdoor Stories, in which employees improved an eco-trail in the Golden Bridges area of Vitosha, the internal initiative Heroes in Green, which promotes environmentally responsible behaviour among the bank's team, together with the Green Classroom project, which is the construction of an innovative amphitheatre area designed to learn and have fun in nature, implemented in partnership with Mastercard and Vitosha Nature Park.
Postbank's targeted actions in the field of environmental protection have been repeatedly awarded in various competitions for sustainable initiatives and CSR programs. In the annual Golden Heart charity and corporate social responsibility awards of Business Lady magazine and club and Bulgaria Business Review magazine for 2022, the financial institution won the Green Planet award with its Green Classroom project in partnership with Mastercard. During the 12th edition of b2b Media's national competition The Greenest Companies in Bulgaria in 2022 Postbank won two gold awards in the Green Education Initiative and Green Idea categories. The financial institution also deservedly won Bank of the Year in the 30th anniversary edition of the annual awards of the Bank of the Year Association.
More information on Postbank's green initiatives can be found here.