Environmental and climate protection at Munich Re

The environmental impact of our activities is limited, since Munich Re does not have an energy- and resource-intensive business model. However, as a large organisation with more than 39,600 employees, we have responsibilities for environmental protection and have involved ourselves in areas that we can influence in practical and positive ways. In determining our goals and activities, we are focusing on reducing energy consumption and the associated carbon emissions, ensuring that business travel is as environmentally friendly as possible, and achieving a higher level of material and resource efficiency for our processes by generating less waste and using sustainable materials. In parallel with these activities, we are sensitising our staff to behaving in an environmentally compatible way.

Munich Re Group has coordinated environmental activities at all sites since 2012 using a standardised, mandatory environmental management system (EMS) that meets the requirements of the international DIN ISO 14001 standard. The EMS is based on the Group’s environmental guidelines and on selected key performance indicators (KPIs) that we use to assess our carbon footprint. It also defines the processes required and our organisational responsibilities. In 2019, 83% of Group´s employees worked at sites integrated into the EMS. In addition, 40% of Group´s employees worked at companies externally certified as DIN ISO 14001.

We want to be measured against the implementation of our environmental and climate protection strategy, and orientate ourselves towards the following objectives formulated in 2015, which we want to achieve by 2020:

Climate friendly menue

As of October 2019, about 18,000 employees from Munich Re, ERGO and MEAG in Germany have been able to regularly enjoy a “climate-friendly menu” in any of the Group’s canteens in Germany. The menu offers regional products which, where possible, are organically produced.  It only takes a few facts to make the motivation clear: Agriculture causes 10% of European greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions resulting from the transport and storage of food are also significant. Frozen food comes at the expense of the climate. And the carbon footprint of every food-type can now be calculated. For example, the carbon footprint of beef is extremely high. Pork and poultry have a footprint that is only a quarter that of beef, and vegetables, of course, have a much smaller footprint still. A lot can be achieved with just a few measures: for example, reducing the amount  of meat, sourcing fresh-water fish from local waters, or sourcing organic vegetables with “blemishes” from a local start-up.