Insurance solutions that help protect the environment
Many ERGO products give special consideration to environmental aspects. For example, ERGO uses innovative insurance solutions to cover technical risks involved in generating electricity from renewable energies. ERGO also offers unit-linked annuity insurances designed to take ecological aspects into account. And in the event that an incident should impair the environment, ERGO ensures that the ecosystem affected is rehabilitated.
ERGO has a number of insurance products in its portfolio that give special consideration to ecological aspects.
In the case of life insurance, clients have the opportunity to protect themselves against various risks and provide for their own old age at the same time they are making sustainable investments. For example, clients can conclude unit-linked annuity insurance in a way that also allows them to take into account ethical, social and ecological concerns. The client’s capital is invested in shares of companies that demonstrably do business in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.
But ERGO also offers environmentally friendly insurance solutions for motor vehicles and renewable energy technologies. Whenever clients take out public liability, professional liability or environmental impairment liability insurance, ERGO also checks whether environmental risks exist and, if so, how significant they are, and insures the potential losses.
Low-cost policies for climate-friendly vehicles
ERGO's range of motor insurance offerings includes an eco-rate that provides incentives for environmentally friendly mobility: vehicles with particularly low levels of CO2 emissions qualify for policies that cost up to 10% less than those for conventional vehicles. The limits are based on the models of each vehicle type – from micro-cars to vans – that produce the lowest CO2 emissions. These policies also cover any environmental damage that results from a motor accident.
The picture on the left shows the ERGO engineering insurance publication "Mit neuer Energie in die Zukunft" (With new energy into the future).
Insurance secures the future of renewable energies
In light of the limited reserves of fossil fuels and increasing need for environmental and climate protection, the utilisation of renewable energies is taking on an ever more important role. ERGO has the requisite know-how to keep pace with technological developments and offer the insurance protection needed to utilise the energy sources of the future. Combined property and business interruption insurance provides policyholders with client-friendly, comprehensive protection. The policies are tailored in each case to the technologies involved and their special features. ERGO offers insurance solutions for photovoltaic, wind-energy, hydroelectric, biogas, geothermal and fuel-cell systems. The focus of ERGO's activities is the photovoltaic market, where ERGO is one of the few insurers offering innovative cover extensions such as reduced yield insurance. In the event of loss, this cover includes the loss of revenue from photovoltaic installations for up to twelve months and thus reduces the financial risk for the policyholder. This kind of earnings certainty also has a positive impact on a photovoltaic plant's financing.
Repairing damaged ecosystems
Germany's Environmental Damage Prevention and Remediation Act entered into effect in November 2007 and holds polluters responsible for causing damage to flora, fauna, bodies of water and/or soil. ERGO provides coverage for this risk in the form of environmental impairment insurance, which ensures that the damaged ecosystem is rehabilitated. In the slightly less than four years since then, 80,000 clients have concluded a policy of this type with ERGO. Since 2009, ERGO has also integrated environmental impairment insurance in public liability insurance, particularly in cases involving commercial risks. In this way, the insurance company offers its clients special insurance protection.
Helping clients save energy
For ERGO, it is entirely natural to offer its clients insurance products designed to support measures to save energy. Householders' insurance, for example, covers additional costs for environmentally friendly household appliances. If, for example, a household appliance is damaged, the policy pays the higher cost of buying a new appliance that fulfils more demanding, environmentally friendly standards (reduced energy consumption).
