Environment and ecological responsibility
Climate protection and conservation of resources
Although Hannover Re’s environmental footprint is comparatively slight as a service company, we attach special importance to the issue of environmental protection. Consequently, Hannover Re is a partner in numerous initiatives for climate and environmental protection and has set itself the goal of reducing emissions as far as possible. In the year under review alone we cut our CO2 emissions by a further 15%.
Innovations are the key to resource efficiency and the most environmentally compatible mobility. Since 2007 Hannover Re has participated in the Greater Hannover region’s “Ecological Project for Integrated Environmental Technology” (Ecoprofit). The basic idea underlying this project is to combine economic profit with ecological benefit through preventive environmental protection. The energy-saving successes already achieved are regularly publicised in the relevant project publications.
Since 2008 the company has also compensated for the CO2 pollution caused by business flights through voluntary offsetting payments to the international organisation “atmosfair”, thereby supporting selected climate protection projects in developing and emerging countries. We pay similar voluntary offsets for the CO2 emissions from train travel as well. In addition, we have purchased RECS (Renewable Energy Certificate System) certificates from our electricity supplier to promote the use of renewable forms of energy.
Not only that, as part of the “Climate Alliance Hannover 2020”, Hannover Re is playing its part in efforts to accomplish the state capital’s goal of cutting climate-threatening greenhouse gas emissions to levels 40% lower than in 1990 by the year 2020. Hannover Re’s specific contributions will be regularly checked every two years from 2011 onwards.
Hannover Re reviews other activities that contribute to the conservation and sustainable preservation of resources within the scope of regular Business Excellence assessments.