Our key environmental figures

An important part of our Group-wide environmental and climate protection strategy is the continuous reduction of our resource consumption and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions.

In our reporting on consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, we focus on the main direct impacts of our business operations on the environment and climate. These are the consumption of energy, paper and water, the amount of waste we produce and the kilometres travelled on business trips. The resulting greenhouse gas emissions are measured and reported in CO2 equivalents (CO2e).

With our Ambition 2025 climate targets, we aim to move our operational business processes across the Group to net-zero emissions by 2030. The implementation will be gradual: By 2025, we intend to have reduced our greenhouse gas emissions (CO2e) across the entire Munich Re Group by twelve percent per employee compared to 2019. We have already been offsetting unavoidable CO2e-emissions since 2015 by purchasing climate certificates.

 

General information

Unit 2022 2021  2020 2019
(base year)
Total number of staff   25,693
24,974
26,436 26,727
Staff covered by the survey of environmental indicators % 76.5
81.7
80.5 80.9
Staff working at a site with a certified environmental management system
% 63.51
58.95
55.91 45.7
1 In 2022, our sites in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were certified for the first time.
2
In 2020, our site in Poland was certified for the first time.

 

CO2e emissions            

Unit 2022 2021  2020 2019
(base year)
Total CO2e emissions t 51,077
54,014
53,954 57,562
Direct CO2e emissions from primary energy consumption – Scope 11 t 36,307
39,716
37,539 36,288
Indirect CO2e emissions from procured energy – Scope 22 t 10,021
11,283
13,053 13,812
Other indirect CO2e emissions – Scope 33 t 4,750
3,015
3,3624 7,462
CO2e emissions per employee t 1.988
2.163
2.041 2.154
Total CO2e savings since 2019
% 11.27
6.16
6.27 -
CO2e savings per employee since 2019
% 7.70
-0.425 5.25 -
1 Direct emissions from primary energy consumption (natural gas, heating oil, emergency diesel power, fuel for company cars).
2 Indirect emissions from procured energy (purchase of electricity, district heating, and district cooling).
3 Other indirect emissions (business trips, consumption of paper and water, waste).
4 Pandemic-related decrease in 2020 due to high work-from-home rates.     
2021 per capita figure increased slightly by 0.42% due to the decreased total number of staff since 2019.      

 

Energy consumption

Unit 2022 2021  2020 2019
(base year)
Total direct energy consumption
(natural gas, natural gas for CHPs1, fuel for emergency generators)
MWh 144,735
169,780
161,974 152,369
Natural gas MWh 47,602
56,983
57,317 50,955
Natural gas for CHPs
MWh 96,411
112,153
104,009 100,940
Fuel for emergency generator 
MWh 722
644
648 474
Total consumption indirect energy
(purchased electricity, district heating, district cooling)
MWh 90,951
102,946
104,021 113,472
Purchased electricity MWh 15,748
11,338
17,722 18,964
Procured green electricity MWh 37,596
38,779
40,189 45,787
District cooling MWh 3,446
3,824
3,847 4,343
District heating MWh 34,161
49,005 42,263 44,379
Self-generated electricity (CHP)
MWh 29,537
33,939
31,167
30,422
Percentage of total electricity consumption from green electricity % 70.5
77.4
69.4 70.7
Total CO2e emissions from energy t 39,380
45,709
45,898 44,700
CO2e emissions from energy per employee t 1.533
1.830
1.736 1.672
Thermal power stations with combined heat and power technology

 

Consumption of paper1

Unit 2022 2021 2020 2019
(base year)
Total consumption of paper t 580
6112
4223 590
Paper consumption per employee
t 0.023
0.024
0.016 0.022
Share of recycled paper % 4.24
7.94 21.3
53.9
Total CO2e emissions from paper t 685
721
498 697
CO2e emissions from paper per employee t 0.027
0.029
0.019 0.026
1 Printer and copy paper
2 Increase due to increased documentation requirements for customers and distributors in Poland.
3 Pandemic-related decline in 2020 due to shift to working from home and the increasing digitalisation of processes.
4 Decrease due to high paper consumption by some international entities with a low share of recycled paper.       

 

Water1

Unit 2022 2021  2020 2019
(base year)
Total water consumption m3 311,298
303,866
344,1222
437,457
Water consumption per employee m3 12.116
12.167
13.017
16.368
Total CO2e emissions from water consumption t 219
214
242 308
CO2e emissions from water consumption per employee 0.009
0.009
0.009 0.012
1 Our locations withdraw their water from the local (municipal) networks. Our waste water is discharged sanitary water.
2 Pandemic-related decrease in 2020 due to high work-from-home rates. 

 

Waste

Unit 2022 2021 2020 2019
(base year)
Total waste t 3,389
3,643
4,7351
5,314
Waste by type and disposal method1
 

 
Recycled materials t 1,863
2,046
2,525
2,793
Incinerated waste            
t 601
894
1,107 933
Landfill waste t 0
85
207 274
Special disposal of waste for reuse/recovery t 3
7
14 4
Organic waste t 392
202
512 888
Other waste            
t 529
409
370 422
Waste per employee t 0.132
0.146
0.179 0.199
Total CO2e emissions from waste t 1,606
1,380
1,606 1,680
CO2e emissions from waste per employee t 0.063
0.055
0.061 0.063
1 Pandemic-related decrease in 2020 due to high work-from-home rates.
2 The type of waste disposal greatly depends on the respective infrastructure for waste disposal and local regulations. Wherever possible, waste and recyclable materials are separated, recycled and disposed of by regional service suppliers.

 

Business travel

Unit 2022 2021 2020 2019
(base year)
Total business travel km 67,676,093
43,734,7291
46,314,3281
102,969,152
Air travel km 16,624,637
4,633,900
7,588,751
40,094,092
Automotive travel (company cars, hire vehicles)
km 42,197,792
35,536,669
34,909,236
48,167,780
Rail travel and long distance bus travel2
km 10,473,2573
3,564,161
3,816,341
14,707,280
Business travel per employee
km 2,634
1,751
1,752 3,853
Total CO2e emissions for business travel t 9,188
5,991
5,709 10,177
CO2e emissions for business travel per employee t 0.36
0.24
0.22
0.38

1 Pandemic-related decline in 2020 and 2021.
2 Long distance rail travel with Deutsche Bahn and ÖBB climate-neutral due to green electricity procurement.
3 Increase in mileage due to recording of long-distance bus trips and shift from air to rail travel in Germany.

 

Notes on the environmental indicators:

All consumption data that was not available at the reporting date was estimated and extrapolated to the fully consolidated companies of the ERGO Group. Selective quantitative figures are quality assured externally for the entire Munich Re Group including ERGO.

The consumption of resources per employee refers to in-house staff and salaried field staff. Self-employed sales agents are not included in the environmental indicators.

The latest conversion factors of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG) and the Association for Environmental Management and Sustainability in Financial Institutions (VfU) are used to calculate Group wide CO2 emissions. Where possible, individual conversion factors, e.g. for company cars, are used. A market-based approach is used to calculate Scope 2 emissions from electricity consumption, taking into account that in 2022 a share of 70,5 % will come from renewable energy sources and will be calculated as emission-free. For the remaining electricity consumption, country-specific conversion factors from the GHG Protocol were used, derived from the average local electricity mix.

Sources of Greenhouse gas emissions:

  • Scope 1: Direct emissions from primary energy consumption (natural gas, heating oil, emergency diesel generators, fuel for company cars)
  • Scope 2: Indirect emissions from procured energy (purchase of electricity, district heating, and district cooling)
  • Scope 3: Other indirect emissions (business trips, consumption of paper and water, waste)