For the fourth year in a row, Krka took part in the activities of the European Mobility Week. On Friday, 20 September, we invited Krka employees in Slovenia as well as in our representative offices and companies abroad to join our Krka Car-Free Day campaign. Numerous Krka employees in Slovenia and in 16 countries in which we operate arrived to work on foot, by bike, took a public means of transport or carpooled with their co-workers. By adopting alternative means of transport, which we hope will become more than a one-time occurrence and develop into a habit, we contribute to sustainable mobility that focuses on reducing the negative impact of traffic.
We care about the state of the world we will leave behind for future generations, which is why we would like to change the way we get to work and use examples of good practice to preserve the environment in which we live. The purpose of Krka’s Car-Free Day campaign is to encourage Krka employees to use alternative means of transportation, i.e. walk, ride a bicycle, use public transport or carpool to work. Hopefully this practice will be adopted not only during the European Mobility Week but also many times throughout the year. We encourage our colleagues to go to work together, since one of the advantages of sustainable mobility is also socialising and connecting.
The number of people taking part in this campaign is increasing every year. In 2019, three times as many colleagues decided to take an alternative approach compared to when we first began the campaign. We are happy to see an increasing number of colleagues from abroad join our efforts every year. In 2019, Krka’s campaign took place in the Russian Federation, Germany, Croatia, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Portugal, Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Bulgaria, Serbia, Turkmenistan, India and China.
A mobility plan to improve travel habits
From its very beginnings, Krka has been taking care of the environment as well as the quality of life of its employees and the people who live in the vicinity of our factories. Since 2015, we have further strengthened our efforts to improve air quality and develop sustainable mobility. We wrote them down in Krka’s Mobility Plan with which we encourage the use of alternative and less environmentally harmful ways of arriving to work.
Its key goals are geared towards reducing the use of personal vehicles and contributing to better traffic safety and air quality in the countries in which Krka operates, and also to reduce traffic burden on central arteries and city areas. We are focused on sustainable mobility and health, and also help local communities carry out their sustainable development programmes.
Numerous awareness-raising activities
We are engaged in numerous activities that are aimed at raising the awareness of our colleagues about the importance of sustainable development. We opened a special mobility page on our website, which Krka employees can use to arrange to get to work together.
We also supported the project of introducing an automated bicycle rental system in the Novo mesto municipality. To encourage more people using bicycles to get to work we provided extra parking spaces for bikes. We raise awareness about the importance of sustainable mobility by publishing articles in company newsletters and electronic media.
We set up two charging stations for electric vehicles at Krka’s central location in Ločna that can be used by Krka employees, business partners and visitors. We make use of five electric vehicles in our commitment to improve air quality. Krka employees use them for various service-related activities in different Krka locations in Novo mesto, Šentjernej and Krško.