No matter if they are general or premium, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is on the agenda of all companies in the automotive sector. It can have multiple approaches, but in general terms it starts from the idea that, in addition to being a business and a source of work, a company is an essential member of the communities in which it operates, and therefore has a commitment both in its people and with the surrounding environment.
In this context, in recent years various luxury brands have found a very particular way to offset part of their impact on the planet: they bet on the breeding of bees, an insect that due to climate change and the use of pesticides and insecticides, among other reasons, it has drastically reduced its population around the world. Some species, in fact, are already in danger of extinction.
As the main pollinator on Earth, the importance of bees in biodiversity and natural balance is well known, but they also represent a very important link for human life: United Nations estimates indicate that one third of the food consumed depends on them. in the world. That is why it is no exaggeration that in 2018 the Royal Geographical Society of London and the Earthwatch Institute called them “the most important animals in the world”.
With that in mind, in 2016 Lamborghini He decided to give them a place in the famous park that bears his name in Sant’Agata Bolognese, in northern Italy: the natural area near the headquarters of the Bull includes a huge apiary inhabited by 600,000 bees. According to the company itself, thanks to this, every year they collect about 430 kilos of honey which they then distribute among their employees during the Christmas period.
But they are not the only ones: about 3 million bees have found refuge in the vicinity of the factory. porsche in Leipzig, Germany, where they live with 75 bulls and 25 wild horses, as well as countless birds, insects, frogs, hares and bats.
Thus, unlike Lamborghini, the German brand has become a producer of honey and, in this case, also a seller: around 1,000 kilos a year come out of its hives, which are offered to the public and run out within a few days.
Smaller but equally significant numbers are produced by other brands such as Ducati, which collects 80 kilos of honey per year hosting about 200,000 bees, also under study: according to an agreement with the Veterinary Faculty of the University of Teramo, use insects as bioindicators for monitoring environmental pollution around their five hives and their car factory, for example.
Bentley, for its part, celebrates the arrival of hundreds of thousands of bees each spring at its Crewe estate, some 60 kilometers south of Manchester, where they claim to have the most populous swarm in the British car industry. And thanks to him they make about 200 jars of honey which are the perfect memory for visits to the factory.
But they have stiff competition: Rolls Royce joined the movement in 2018 and already receives around 300,000 bees on its 17-hectare property in Goodwood, where it has also decided to double the bet and invites its employees to volunteer in the apiary and contribute to the production of the “Rolls-Royce of the honey “, as they call their exclusive (and very little known) product.
One of the main promoters of this initiative is its Director of Global Communications, Richard Carter, who alternates jacket and tie and suit and the typical protections of beekeepers. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to get involved in bee conservation, which is essential for achieving a healthy and sustainable ecosystem, as well as producing food for humans,” he says.
And, with irony, he specifies: “Furthermore, they will be able to proudly claim to have helped bees to create a natural product, available in even smaller quantities than our cars”.
Source: Clarin
