Our employees receive training which gives them information on alternative ways to get around; for instance, they are urged to take the train rather than flying for short and medium distances. In July 2011, ERGO switched to using “green” train tickets for journeys within Germany, making all our business journeys undertaken by train carbon-neutral.
We also help cut costs and reduce the environmental impact of fuel and electricity consumption by putting appointments or meetings in the same location back-to-back and, wherever possible, using tele- or videoconferencing rather than travelling to meetings. Employees can find detailed information on carrying out these options in the Company intranet, where we put them in the know on the technical requirements for video and web conferencing and point them towards useful software training units. At our Düsseldorf offices, we have set up two new conference centres which have the technology to include external participants.