According to Deutschland.de, Porsche plans on giving a home to 25 bee colonies in their Leipzig factory to boost their green credentials. The move is an unusual one for Porsche, whose luxury sportscars and SPORTS utilities are not renowned for their sustainability or frugal fuel consumption. “Introducing the honey bee colonies is our way of contributing to the protection of domestic animals and plants,” said Siegfried Buelow, who chairs the board at Porsche Leipzig.
Porsche said it was prompted to act after learning from the German beekeeper’s association that bee colony numbers have fallen from 2.5 million in 1952 to fewer than one million today. Half of the 560 species of bee that live in Germany are said to be threatened with extinction. According to experts, bees are thought to be the most important production animal in Germany next to cows and pigs. By carrying pollen from flower to flower, they pollinate a large proportion of agricultural crops.