Kia  expands green space around production sites   

Kia Motors Corporation has expanded the amount of green space around its productionfacilities. In 2015 Kia created an additional 136,289 m2 of green space around its manufacturing plants worldwide, the equivalent of 33 soccer pitches. This is a rise of 3.9% and brings the total area of green space created by Kia at its sites to 3,507,276 m2 – the equivalent of 858 soccer pitches.

Green areas are located at everysingle one of Kia’s global production facilities: at Sohari, Hwasung and Gwangju in Korea; Žilina in Slovakia, Europe; Georgia in the USA; and inYancheng Province, China. The changes are revealed in Kia’s annual ‘MOVE’sustainability report as the automaker sees afforestation as a cornerstone for developing even more eco-friendly production facilities.

By the end of 2015, the company had planted a total of 4.94 million trees at its-manufacturing facilities. The planting of trees at each production site helps absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. With a single tree able to absorb up to 22 kg of CO2 per year, around 107.5 million tons of CO2 are absorbed as a result of afforestation by Kia.

Due to ongoing effortsto introduce a higher proportion of green areas at each of its productionfacilities, the company has managed to avoid any instances of soilcontamination at any of its production sites since 2000. In 2015, Kia invested 38.5 billion Korean won (US$32.5 million) in green initiatives at its three domestic Korean plants to further prevent potential environmental issues at source.

Year-on-year, this investment is 50% higher than in 2014, and many of the newinitiatives – such as hazardous substance-free manufacturing and painting processes – will be rolled out across Kia’s global manufacturing facilities inthe near future. It is committed to pursuing effective innovations and improvements to production processes at every one ofits global production facilities,  to further reduce its impact on the environment.

The company’s efforts in this regard, along with the development of alternative powertrains and the use of recyclable, eco-friendly materials inits vehicles, have been recognized by Interbrand, the world’s leading brand-consultancy. Interbrand included Kia in 35th in latest global ranking.

Mike Ochonma