Bankers Association committed to protecting the oceans

The Liechtenstein Bankers Association has agreed a partnership with Teal Project, rrreefs and DynamicElement to protect the oceans. The aim is to uphold and protect unique marine ecosystems and habitats for millions of marine animals.

The Liechtenstein Bankers Association (LBA) is supporting a joint initiative to protect the oceans in which rrreefs, a spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH), the sports fashion start-up Teal Project and the technology company DynamicElement are all involved. According to a media release, the LBA is supporting a rrreefs project in which an artificial reef is to be created using a large-scale modular system made of clay bricks. It is hoped that this will lead to greater biodiversity and boost coral growth, while a habitat will be created for millions of marine animals at the same time. The project is set to run until March 31, 2024.

Teal Project, a Zurich-based sports fashion label, is playing its part in the protection of the oceans by producing fashionable, high-quality socks. In total, 60 percent of the yarn used comes from recycled plastic recovered from the land and sea, with 5 percent of the sales proceeds being donated to the rrreefs project.

To ensure that the manufacturing and distribution chain of Teal Project products is transparent, DynamicElement, a company based in Kreuzlingen in the canton of Thurgau that specializes in product security, has developed forgery-proof QR codes for the garments. By scanning this QR code, customers are brought to the ocean conservation project page, where they can support the project.

“For us, this project represents more than a successful partnership and a very innovative project”, comments Simon Tribelhorn, CEO of the Liechtenstein Bankers Association, in the press release. “It is a perfect combination of digitalization and sustainability. By investing in socks made of ocean plastic and using part of the sales to reforest coral reefs, the project doubly promotes marine biodiversity and thus SDG 14 (Life Below Water) in a very concrete way. The use of SQR codes makes it both tamper-proof and unique”, he adds.