Skanska : Honey crop season at Skanska

Article10/8/2015 1:00 PM CET

They are great pollinators and essential to agriculture, having a key role in producing much of the food we eat. But for this year's honey crop season at Skanska, the climate has had a negative impact on our bee populations and their communities.

You can find them on the roof at Skanska's offices in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö, enjoying life and producing delicious honey. As hardworking builders of today's society, the honeybees and Skanska have a lot of things in common.

But not everything is as it should be. Due to the many consequences of climate change, this year's unstable weather has had a negative impact on bee populations and their communities.

Skanska's own beekeepers (in Stockholm and Malmö), Bee Urban, who make sure the beehives on our office roofs are well looked after, have seen a substantial reduction in this year's honey crop, compared to last year.

Honeybees need to visit approximately one to four million flowers in order to produce one kilo of honey, but flowers are currently not producing enough nectar, which is the very raw material for honey. This has caused a great deal of problems for the bee communities in Sweden. This is reflected by difficulties in honey production.

Honeybees are in fact just like you and I; when it comes to cold and rainy summer days, they rather stay at home, inside. Honeybees spend winters in large communities where they build up their supply of honey, their winter fodder, which is then harvested by humans. Climate change therefore puts extra pressure on beekeepers and their ability to be innovative and able to help the bees with the challenges they face.

As a consequence of this year's difficulties, we will see a smaller and more exclusive supply of honey than usual, and a substantial lack of honey in our shops. The honey drops, both healthy and appreciated, have certainly never been more valuable.