Mercedes' green legacy

Editor's note: Klaus Maier, president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz (China) Ltd, initiated the Green Legacy Program shortly after he took his position in China. He tells China Business Weekly reporter Liu Jie about natural site conservation cause.

Q: In addition to money, what will Mercedes-Benz bring to the Green Legacy Program?

A: Apart from the donation made to UNESCO to support the conservation of Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries and the South China Karst, the Green Legacy Program encompasses a broader program aimed at raising awareness about nature protection.

With the expanded program scale this year, we are already planning a series of activities, including workshops, educational and interactive activities later this year, targeting our partners, customers and employees.

Q: Would you like to set an example?

A: Absolutely. When we brought up this program idea to our dealer partners, their responses were overwhelming and very supportive.

As part of the Mercedes-Benz family, I believe our dealers share the same belief and passion of the need to maintain a harmonious balance between technological progress and natural environment.

Their involvement was indeed very encouraging for us to drive forward our further cooperation with them and expand the reach of our Green Legacy Program.

In fact, we are launching the dealer program, which will include specially-organized activities on nature protection and appreciation - and we also hope to reach our customers through these activities.

Q: In addition to the program, what other green activities does Mercedes-Benz conduct in China?

A: In addition to conserving natural heritage sites, we have taken our actions a step further to involve our employees in China.

Many of our staff act as volunteers to carry out environmental protection promotion activities in communities. We set green boxes in offices to select environmental protection suggestions and take measures to implement them.

We plant trees in green communities where we are living. Recently, we hold a company-wide tree-planting day, and over 300 of our employees in China planted more than 1,200 trees on the outskirts of Beijing.

(China Daily 04/21/2008 page8)