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2014 Corporate Responsibility Report

The Greenhouse Neutral Programme

49.3%

Total reduction in CO2 emissions per employee between 2003 and 2013

1.2%

Total increase in CO2 emissions per employee in 2014

Climate change has been a strategic priority for Swiss Re for more than 20 years. It is a key topic for a re/insurer, because it is likely to cause more extreme and more frequent weather events, resulting in rising damages and insurance losses. Our strategy to tackle climate change rests on four pillars, one of which is the pledge to reduce our own CO2 emissions (see section “Climate change”).

Our Greenhouse Neutral Programme has been the principal initiative to achieve this goal. Launched in 2003, it originally combined two commitments: firstly, to reduce our CO2 emissions by 15% per employee (full-time equivalent or FTE) within ten years and, secondly, to fully offset all the remaining emissions by purchasing high-quality emission reduction credits, thus making the company greenhouse neutral for the whole period between 2003 and 2013.

After meeting our initial reduction target well ahead of time, we gradually raised it to 45% per employee. By the end of the programme’s first commitment cycle in 2013, we had achieved a total reduction in CO2 emissions per employee of 49.3% compared to the base year 2003. (Please note that we have had to correct the previously stated figure of 56.5%, because a reporting error concerning business travel in 2013 led to a substantial underestimation of total CO2 emissions per employee that year.)

Download
CO2 emissions per employee (full-time equivalent, FTE), Swiss Re Group

 

2013

2014

Change in %

1

The 2013 figure for power has been restated due to an update of the emission factors used for renewable energy.

2

The 2013 figure for business travel has been corrected to account for two calculation adjustments:
a) use of updated emission factors, based on recent scientific evidence regarding the radiative forcing of CO2 (DEFRA 2014);
b) incompletely reported business flights due to a technical issue.

3

The 2013 figure for technical gases has been restated due to a reporting error at one location.

4

At present, we do not compensate the emissions caused by our employees’ commuting.

Power

8111

871

7.4

Heating

379

308

−18.7

Business travel

3 8252

3 923

2.6

Copy paper

40

31

−22.5

Waste

51

51

0

Water

11

12

9.1

Technical gases

283

27

−3.6

Commuting4

1 500

1 500

0

Total

6 645

6 723

1.2

Download
Underlying environmental data, Swiss Re Group

 

 

2013

2014

Change in %

1

The 2013 figure for business travel has been restated due to incompletely reported flights.

Power

kWh/FTE

4 575

4 435

−3.1

Heating

kWh/FTE

1 940

1 584

−18.4

Energy intensity

kWh/FTE

6 515

6 019

−7.6

 

 

 

 

 

Business travel

km/FTE

13 8621

13 931

0.5

 

 

 

 

 

Copy paper

kg/FTE

34

26

−23.5

Recycling paper

%

70

70

0

FSC label

%

96

94

−2.1

 

 

 

 

 

Waste

kg/FTE

182

192

5.5

Water

m3/FTE

16

17

6.3