This year UniCredit will join Earth Hour with 70 of its representative buildings all over Europe

UniCredit Bulbank will join the Earth Hour for a fifth consecutive year. On March 29th from 8:30 pm until 9:30 pm the bank will turn off the lights in 11 buildings in six locations in the country: Sofia, Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Burgas, Varna and Ruse.

Joining the Earth Hour initiative is part of the National Green Programme of UniCredit Bulbank within which the bank carries out environmental projects.

In 2013 about 200 employees of UniCredit Bulbank collected 500 kg of litter scattered all over Vitosha Mountain. The volunteers cleaned the areas in the proximity of Momina skala Hut and Planinets Hut and painted the benches and the arbours near the huts. In 2012 UniCredit Bulbank organized a Green Day initiative to clean Vitosha in support of the national campaign organized by BTV “Let's Clean Bulgaria in One Day”.

UniCredit Bulbank won the “Greatest voluntary work contribution” Award given by the Bulgarian Donors’ Forum for the Green Day initiative in 2011. On this day 300 of UniCredit Bulbank’s employees and their families planted 1 300 willows and 1800 shrubs of Rhamnus in Vitosha Park.

As part of its consistent environmental protection policy in 2010 UniCredit Bulbank launched the Green Mail campaign to encourage customers to give up paper statements. The initiative was endorsed by 35 000 supports all over the country.

In 2010 UniCredit Bulbank together with Bulgarian Charities Aid Foundation organized an environmental project competition won by the National Parks Association. In this way the bank financed TBGN 5 for the purchase of trail cameras to watch animal species and delineate their habitats in six parks.

In 2009 the bank financed the reconstruction of a tourist route near the village of Borino in the vicinity of the rock formation the Devil’s bridge.

When the Green Programme was launched in 2008 approximately 40 hectares of trees near Stara Zagora were planted and more than 30 kilometers of tourist routes in Vitosha Mountain were reconstructed – from Aleko Hut to Bistritsa village along Yanchovska and Bistrishka River.

UniCredit Bulbank has started to install bike racks in front of its offices, encouraging employees to ride a bike to work.

UniCredit will join this year’s Earth Hour by switching off the lights in 70 of its representative buildings in 10 countries in Europe.

Earh Hour: Background:

Earth Hour is a global event organized by WWF aimed to raise awareness of climate change. This year it will take place on March 29th and will cover 24 time zones as lights are switched off in cities, symbolic monuments, institutions, companies and households worldwide. The motto of this year’s campaign is “Use your power to make change a reality”, encouraging people around the globe to adopt a responsible attitude to energy in their everyday lives and protect the planet from climate change.

Earth Hour was started as a lights-off event in Sydney, Australia in 2007. Since then it has become a traditional event celebrated on the last Saturday of March.

* The lights will be turned off in compliance with the required security measures.

More information for clients:

UniCredit Bulbank, Call Centre

Phone: 0700 1 84 84

More information for media:

UniCredit Bulbank, Identity & Communications Department

Viktoria Blajeva, Phone: + 359 2 9264 993, wjlj/ebwjepwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch

Ekaterina Ancheva, Phone: + 359 2 9264 963, flbufsjob/bodifwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch

Magdalena Ivanova, Phone: + 359 2 9232 528, nbhebmfob/jwbopwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch