Achieving climate neutrality

In 2019, the Talanx Group decided to achieve climate neutrality in its business. For this purpose, its first step was to offset carbon emissions from its own operations in Germany. The six-figure offset sum is now being used to support certified climate-friendly reforestation projects in Brazil and Uganda.

The goal of the new sustainability strategy is to enhance the sustainability of the Company’s entire operations, investments and underwriting. As part of the revision of its sustainability strategy, Talanx calculated its carbon footprint and adopted the basic policy of avoiding, reducing and offsetting carbon dioxide. Its goal is to achieve a clear reduction in its own carbon emissions in the medium to long term.

For example, in 2019 HDI Service AG set itself the goal of cappings pikes in electricity usage and optimising the timer programmes used in the building management systems at the Group’s headquarters in Hannover. Capping spikes helps to cut not only the volume of non-renewable energy needed during peak periods but also the Company’s electricity costs. Optimising the timer programmes saved approximately 350,000 kWh of electricity, or roughly 190,000 kg of CO2, in 2019.

Talanx will introduce a waste disposal policy at its Hannover and Cologne locations that will clearly reduce single-use plastic waste. The first step in achieving this will be e.g. to use up single-portion packs of ketchup and milk, after which they will be replaced in a second step by bulk containers. This means we will be able to save 240,000 single-portion packs of ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise, among other things. In addition, from 2020 onwards, waste-paper baskets lined with plastic rubbish bags at individual workstations will be replaced by central collection points in the corridors. The goal here is to save 750,000 plastic rubbish bags.