The Mobile Embassy promotes environment-friendly activity consistent with the teachings of the Catholic Church. It’s a Mercedes Benz/Automet electric bus, lent for use to Caritas Poland by Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa. The President of the JSW Management Board, Daniel Ozon, handed over the symbolic ownership title to the electric bus in October last year. Now, the bus has arrived in Silesia, where it will travel across parishes, promoting environmental attitudes among the local communities under the slogan “Environmental Awakening”, making a reference to the Papal encyclical Laudato Si’. – Our times put before us the problem of saving the natural environment, which man has damaged and exposed to danger in the name of civilization. We suddenly awakened to realize that the water is poisoned, the air we breathe is poisoned and so is the soil that feeds us – said prelate Bernard Czernecki during the holy mass inaugurating the campaign. – In the name of civilization, with the remains of responsibility and self-preservation instinct, we try to save the natural environment or rather restore it, because the death of the environment is our death. The Katowice Metropolitan Archbishop Wiktor Skworc wrote a letter to the participants of the celebrations read out during the Sunday mass: – Your initiative is a very important step towards specific actions increasing the society’s awareness in the face of degradation of the natural environment. Your initiative under the name Laudato Si’ Mobile Embassy is a community-wide mobilization to perform an environmental examination of conscience.
For the next few weeks the Mobile Embassy will visit further parishes in the region. JSW’s efforts are aligned with its environmental activity, as the company executes numerous projects aimed at, among others, reducing the amount of waste, including those released into the atmosphere in the form of greenhouse gases. According to plans, in 3 years’ time, JSW will reach energy self-sufficiency, thanks to the energy produced from coke oven gas and methane. In addition, the expansion of the electric vehicle fleet and production of energy from photovoltaics is under way. JSW Group’s core product, coking coal, is also indispensible for production of electric vehicles or windmills. – Our corporate social responsibility as a listed company which has strong ties with this region, is not only before the shareholders, banks, business partners or employees, but also before the local community, which we want to support – said Daniel Ozon, President of the JSW Management Board. – This also includes responsibility for the environment and responsibility before future generations.
The Group’s environmental commitment is confirmed by the establishment of the JSW Foundation, whose aims include, among others, supporting environmental protection. During Sunday’s celebrations, the Foundation officially inaugurated its activity. The Foundation will also lend support to local governments, especially the ones where Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa operates.