KB Kookmin Bank said on April 5 it announced results of its "KB Green Wave" palace forest project at Changgyeonggung, timed to Arbor Day.

The KB Green Wave palace forest project is a public-private ESG initiative in which citizens, public institutions and companies cooperate to restore green space in historical and cultural sites in the city. KB Kookmin Bank launched the project in 2023 and built a participatory structure that accumulates employees' ESG practice activities as "KB Green Wave mileage" and converts it into donations.

KB Kookmin Bank said it worked with the Changgyeonggung Management Office of the Royal Palaces and Tombs Center and Seoul Green Trust to create and manage a total of 2,860 square metres of palace forest over three years. In the process, it planted 550 trees and about 9,900 flowering plants, contributing to improvements in the urban green environment.

It also selected and planted 14 types of trees suitable for the palace environment, including Korean maple, royal azalea and Camellia japonica, and increased the forest's naturalness through systematic management such as removing invasive alien species that disrupt ecosystems.

Along with this, it is continuing social contribution activities that combine environmental education and emotional healing by running volunteer activities involving citizens and employees and forest experience programmes for children and older people.

A KB Kookmin Bank official said the palace forest project is a representative social contribution model that combines employees' voluntary ESG practice with citizen participation. The official added that the bank will continue to expand sustainable value with local communities based on a participatory ESG structure.