KB Financial to Save Disappearing Honeybees... Launches 'K-Bee Project'

Family members of KB Financial Group employees are participating in a beekeeping experience at the 'K-Bee' urban apiary installed on the rooftop of the KB Kookmin Bank headquarters.

KB Financial Group announced on the 18th that it will promote the ‘K-Bee’ project. This is to restore the bee ecosystem, whose population has been rapidly declining due to recent climate change and other factors.

Recently, bees have been disappearing worldwide, including in South Korea, the United States, and Europe. In particular, in South Korea, a colony collapse phenomenon has occurred nationwide, with about 7.8 billion bees disappearing, emerging as a social issue.

The ‘K-Bee’ project is an initiative by KB Financial to identify key issues to save bees and develop them into social movements. KB Financial plans to take the lead in implementing various solutions such as creating nectar forests, distributing nectar plant kits, and urban beekeeping. Nectar trees provide food for bees, and the creation of nectar forests is considered a core project for restoring the bee ecosystem.

KB Financial, together with the tree-planting social enterprise ‘Tree Planet,’ will create nectar forests for bees in the Hongcheon area of Gangwon Province. Over the next four years, they plan to plant 100,000 nectar trees, including Hovenia dulcis and lily trees. In addition to the damage caused by bee disappearance, they plan to promote nectar forest creation projects in Uljin, Gyeongbuk Province, which is currently facing a serious crisis due to this year’s wildfire damage.

On the 24th, a ‘K-Bee Zone’ will be opened on the metaverse platform Roblox, where a ‘Get My Tree’ event will be held. Also, through KB Kookmin Bank branches, about 10,000 nectar plant kits, including sunflowers, will be distributed. In April, KB Financial, together with the urban beekeeping social enterprise ‘Urban Bees,’ created a ‘K-Bee’ urban apiary on the rooftop of the KB Kookmin Bank headquarters, where about 120,000 bees can inhabit.

A KB Financial official said, "In the past, Einstein emphasized the importance of bees by saying that if bees become extinct, humanity will disappear within four years," adding, "We launched the ‘K-Bee’ project to exert a small but positive influence by gathering the public’s actions."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.