Munich Re Foundation - 2019 carbon footprint

Total CO₂ emissions
In 2019, Munich Re Foundation’s total CO₂ emissions amounted to approximately 1,056 tonnes CO₂. As we compensate the emissions generated by all the attendees travelling to and from events, the Foundation’s own events, with a total of a volume of 1,000 tonnes (95%), were responsible for most of this output. The emissions from office activities (electricity, heating) and business travel, at approximately 16 tonnes (1%) and 40 tonnes (4%) respectively, were low in comparison.

Compared to the previous year, total emissions in 2019 increased by about 44 tonnes of CO_2, but still remained lower than in the years 2007 to 2017. There are several reasons for the slight increase: In contrast to 2018, the Summer Academy 2019 did not take place in Germany but in Ghana. Since a large part of the participants came from Europe, they travelled by plane instead of train, thus emitting more CO₂. We were also pleased to welcome 550 participants at this year's Inclusive Insurance Conference in Bangladesh. This means that around 100 more people attended the conference than last year, which in turn led to slightly higher emissions.

The share of emissions caused by events is offset by the Foundation through the purchase of emission certificates. Munich Re offsets the CO₂ emissions caused by staff and office travel*.

CO₂ emissions caused by events
The travels of all participants and speakers were accounted for to determine the event emissions. The short-term operation of the event rooms can be neglected. The International Inclusive Insurance Conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh had the largest share (89%) with around 894 tonnes of CO₂. This can be explained by the many flights ** of over 550 participants. The summer academy, which brought together young scientists from all over the world in Accra, Ghana, caused around 104 tonnes of CO₂ (10%). The events series of the Dialogue Forums in Munich contributed only slightly to the emissions. As expected, with just under 3 tonnes (<1%), it accounts for a small share, since the audience largely is from the greater Munich area.

CO₂ emissions from business operations

The CO₂ balance for business operations (offices and trips) is just around 56 tonnes: 16 tonnes of CO₂ for the offices (electricity and heat)* and 40 tonnes of CO₂ for business trips. Emissions from air travel have fallen by 12 tonnes as more use has been made of rail. Flights thus accounted for 70% of the business operations’ emissions.

08 January 2020

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* Emissions produced by the Foundation's offices were based on a figure of 2.8 tonnes CO₂ per employee (FTE). This is the result of the Munich Re Corporate Responsibility Report for 2016.

** An RFI (Radiative Forcing Index) factor of 3 was applied to air travel. The transfer distance to and from airports for each journey by plane was taken to be 100 km. For train journeys, a distance of 50 km was taken for transfer to and from the station.