Kia Motors has invested multi Millions of Korean Won in expanding its green areas around the brands facilities.

• Kia approaches landmark five million trees planted at production facilities
• Green space around manufacturing plants equivalent to 866 football pitches
• No cases of soil contamination at any Kia production facility in 15 years
• Domestic investment in environmental initiatives grows 50 per cent year-on-year

Kia Motors Corporation has expanded the amount of green space around its production facilities. In 2015, Kia created an additional 136,289 m² of green space around its manufacturing plants worldwide, the equivalent of 33 football pitches. This is a rise of 3.9 per cent and brings the total area of green space created by Kia at its sites to 3,507,276 m² – the equivalent of 866 football pitches.

Green areas are located at every single one of Kia’s global production facilities. These are Sohari, Hwasung and Gwangju in Korea, Žilina in Slovakia, Georgia in the USA, and in Yancheng Province, China.

Kia Motors sees afforestation as a cornerstone for developing even more eco-friendly production facilities and, 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.

As a result of Kia’s ongoing efforts to introduce a higher proportion of green areas at each of its production facilities, the company has managed to avoid any instances of soil contamination at any of its production sites since 2000.

In 2015, Kia invested 38.5 billion Korean Won (GBP £27 million) into green initiatives at its three domestic Korean plants to further prevent potential environmental issues at the source. Year-on-year, this investment is 50 per cent higher than in 2014, and many of the new initiatives – such as manufacturing and painting processes being free from hazardous substances – will be rolled out across Kia’s global manufacturing facilities in the near future.

Kia Motors is committed to pursuing effective innovations and improvements to production processes at every one of its global production facilities, in order 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 in its vehicles, have been recognised by Interbrand - the world’s leading brand consultancy. Interbrand included Kia in 35^th place in its most recent Best Global Green Brands report.