Climate protection – Leading by example

Our objective is to increase political and public awareness of climate change – applying all our insurance expertise. As a Group, we are leading by example: by 2015, business operations throughout our Group will be » carbon neutral, a step that our reinsurance arm will have accomplished by 2012.

As insurers, we see the effects of climate change at first hand. After all, weather-related natural catastrophe losses are among the things we insure. That is why our in-house environmental protection is focused on a reduction in our own greenhouse gas emissions. To achieve this objective, we adopted a Group-wide carbon-neutral strategy in March 2011.

Two-stage concept: Reducing and compensating for emissions

To gradually neutralise carbon dioxide emissions per staff member from a current 6 t annually by 2015, Munich Re (Group) decided in 2011 to pool its efforts and adopt a uniform approach. The aim of our carbon-neutral strategy is to achieve carbon neutrality in the overall Group in a two-stage process by 2015. During the first stage, emissions will be lowered by at least 10% to less than 5.4 t per staff member. During the second stage, the remaining emissions will be offset through the purchase of » emission allowances.

Step-by-step climate neutrality

The first step consists in establishing the framework conditions and parameters for all companies throughout the Group. This includes determining the emissions caused by staff as accurately as we can and expanding our data records even further.

Our environmental management system aims to reduce our carbon emissions and achieve carbon neutrality. All components of this system, which we monitor annually (energy consumption, water, paper, waste and travel) each have their own specific carbon footprint and can be calculated and reduced by means of targeted measures. Examples are described below:

Not only do we sensitise our staff to the issue, we also submit proposals for avoiding emissions. These focus on highly effective measures, including the organisation of video and telephone conferences in order to reduce business-travel-related emissions. More energy-efficient building-services engineering systems, for which Munich Re has repeatedly been awarded national and international prizes, plays a particular role in reducing emissions.

To reach our goal of decreasing carbon emissions by 10%, we are also aiming to purchase more electricity from renewable energy sources at other business locations. A 25% share of green electricity in the Group as a whole, for instance, could lead to a reduction of 15% in emissions. The Munich and Milan sites are setting a good example in this regard, as 100% of their power requirements are already met by green energy sources.

All Group units independently implement their carbon neutrality standards within these framework conditions.

Munich location carbon neutral since 2009

The Munich Re headquarters reached climate neutrality in 2009. To this end, we reduced the greenhouse gas emissions arising in our operations to the lowest possible level. In 2010, we were able to reduce emissions per employee by an average 60% compared with the previous year, thanks to the use of green energy sources. Unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions (such as those associated with air travel) have been cancelled out by the purchase of emission credits. In total, this means that 25% of the Group are already climate neutral.

Close

Greenhouse gas emissions at the Munich site in 2010

	2010	2009	2008	2007	2006
Emission before measures in t CO2e	26,506	26,556	22,835	22,891	22,288
Measures in t CO2e Carbon free electricity Offsetting	16,159 10,348	16,548 10,008	14,018 0	0 0	0 0
Residual emissions in t CO2e	0	0	8,817	22,891	22,288
Level of carbon neutrality	100%	100%
Reduction per employee (compared with base year)	-62%	-62%

Green building with certified sustainability

MEAG is also actively committed to environmental protection. On behalf of Munich Re and ERGO, our asset manager invests in renewable energies and technologies, and its climate-friendly investment products are available to investors outside the Group as well. Worldwide, MEAG's investments in certified sustainable property have surpassed the €1bn mark. Many of the buildings have been awarded the » GreenBuilding certificate by the European Commission and fully comply with the requirements of the 2007 German Energy Saving Ordinance (EnEV). Many of these energy-efficient buildings are used by Munich Re companies themselves. That MEAG engages in climate protection “on its own doorstep” is illustrated by the fact that it has been awarded numerous prizes for resource-efficient energy management and by its use of green IT solutions.