By welcoming every new employee with this green gift from now on, Radboud University is committed to making a positive impact on the environment and the climate. Every new employee thus contributes to enriching Nijmegen's biodiversity and reducing the carbon footprint, which is in line with the university's mission and sustainability policy. Instead of the typical bouquet of flowers that is sometimes handed out to new employees, trees have been chosen as a new welcome gift because of their longer life span, enriching biodiversity in Nijmegen and reducing CO2 emissions.
The tree vouchers are the result of a collaboration between Radboud University and LifeTerra, an organisation that helps organisations use tree planting to make a positive impact on our climate. Each voucher, printed on recycled materials, contains two QR codes. By scanning these codes, an employee claims the tree and becomes its owner. The other QR code can be used to view the Radboud forest, where more than 900 different trees have already been planted in the area of Nijmegen. Most new employees have become owners of a Mespilus germanica, Betula pubescens, Tilia cordata or Ribes Rubrum. Most of the trees have been planted in the area of Millingen aan de Rijn.
