The Mercedes-Benz Social Responsibility Committee, in collaboration with the City of Seoul and the Children and Future Foundation, planted over 3,000 trees in Cheonwang Neighborhood Park (173 Cheonwang-dong, Guro-gu, Seoul) and held a completion ceremony for the urban forest on the 26th.

This afforestation project is part of the ‘Green+ (GREEN+) Urban Forest Project’ agreement signed with the City of Seoul last April, aimed at reducing fine dust in urban areas and responding to climate change by creating urban forests in four privately-owned lands within city parks.

Cheonwang Neighborhood Park is the first site of the project, and the Mercedes-Benz Social Responsibility Committee commenced the greening and maintenance work in the first half of this year, completing it in about six months to mark a smooth start for the ‘urban forest’ creation project.

The completion ceremony saw attendance from Thomas Klein, Chairperson of the Mercedes-Benz Social Responsibility Committee, Ryu In-jin, President of KCC Auto, over 30 employees from Mercedes-Benz Korea and its authorized dealer KCC Auto, as well as Park Mi-ae, Head of the Urban Greenery Division of Seoul City, Yoo Jeong-hwa, Team Leader of the Park Policy Team at Guro District Office, Kim Byeong-ki, Head of the Children and Future Foundation, and about 40 local residents from Cheonwang-dong in Guro District. Activities such as tree-planting volunteer work by Mercedes-Benz employees and eco-friendly campaigns with community participation were held to celebrate the completion of the urban forest.

The area of the urban forest created in Cheonwang Neighborhood Park spans a total of 1,500 m², and the 3,410 trees planted will absorb 2,292 kg of carbon dioxide and 121 kg of fine dust annually while producing 122,322 kg of oxygen.

Thomas Klein, Chairperson of the Mercedes-Benz Social Responsibility Committee, stated, “As a responsible corporate citizen, we have been engaged in various carbon neutrality and environmental protection activities since last year. I am pleased to have successfully kicked off the first step of this urban forest creation project. We will also wrap up the greening and maintenance of the remaining three areas to contribute to building a healthier green ecosystem.”

Lee Sang-jin daedusj@autodiary.kr