A Hundred Trees to Protect the Climate

LBBW leaves talking about sustainability to others. We prefer to act. This is evident on a large scale as well as on a small one. Both became clear at the Euromoney/ECBC Covered Bond Congress (ECBC) in Vienna. There, LBBW's expertise made it a sought-after contact for questions and discussions about the capital market, ESG funding and covered bonds in particular. That was the big one. The small thing: "Anyone who is as committed to sustainability as LBBW cannot delight their guests with giveaways that might be thrown away afterwards," says Patrick Seifert, Head of LBBW's Primary Markets & Global Syndicate department. Instead of small gifts, the LBBW delegation therefore made a promise to their guests: "Whoever gives us their business card, we will plant a tree for them in Baden-Württemberg."

Our employees from Capital Markets Sales have now kept this promise. The idea was well received at the ECBC: Our team planted exactly 100 English oak and Douglas fir seedlings in November 2022 in Esslingen.

English oak and Douglas fir against climate change

The choice of the two tree species is no coincidence: if German forests are to survive climate change, they will have to change. The time of monocultures of spruce and pine is over. More sustainable are diverse mixed forests in which both conifers and deciduous trees grow. In the long term, trees that can cope with higher temperatures and longer dry phases have the best chances. Two of the trees that have potential for this are the English oak and the Douglas fir.

Many thanks to all our customers who supported our tree planting campaign. All supporters will be sent a personal certificate for their tree. A sign of confidence: action helps.