Kia Motors Corporation, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to confirm its support for the organization's hallmark World Environment Day (WED).

The official signing ceremony took place at the United Nations compound in Nairobi, Kenya and marked Kia's continued commitment to environmental sustainability.

Commemorated on every 5 June since 1972, WED has grown to become the most widely celebrated global day for positive environmental action. WED activities take place year round as a worldwide call to action for individuals and organizations to mobilize environmental activities. This year Kia will award an eco-friendly vehicle to five participating organizations whose WED activity mobilization scores high on criteria as evaluated by UNEP.

The five vehicles to be awarded include four 2012 all-new Kia Rios and one 2012 Kia Optima Hybrid, which were chosen for their high fuel efficiency and to highlight 2012's WED theme 'Green Economy: Does it include you?' 

"Through participation in environmental partnerships such as with UNEP we aim to support steadfast efforts to solve global environmental challenges," said Soon-Nam Lee, Director of Overseas Marketing, Kia Motors Corporation. "This year's 'Green Economy' theme strongly resonates with our core environmental management objectives of achieving low carbon emissions, resource efficiency and placing the environment at the forefront of all our business activities." 

The signing ceremony was attended by Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of UNEP; Izabella Teixeira, Brazilian Environment Minister and MK Kim, President of Kia's Middle East and Africa Regional Headquarters. 

"I would like to thank Kia for their support, and we look forward to awarding five new vehicles to grassroots groups and organizations that are making notable strides towards a green economy. We hope these vehicles will further the important work they are doing and encourage all groups in any region to participate," said Steiner.

Over the past month, Kia has emphasized its support for UNEP and WED via its online campaign 'Kia Likes Caring,' which is hosted on the company's official Facebook page. The ongoing campaign aims to encourage participation and magnify awareness of Kia's social responsibility programs across its 1.6 million plus fan base. Fans are able to indicate their support for several causes by sharing "Kia Likes Caring" badges on their profiles, and 100 lucky participants were selected earlier this month to receive official WED T-shirts for showing their support.