Corporate responsibility (CR), by which we understand a forward-looking and respon- sible approach in all activities, is an integral part of our corporate strategy. Besides the responsibility of every single employee, we have defined three thematic focal points for the Group:
— The enhanced integration of ecological and social aspects in both our investment and our insurance business, coupled with transparent and responsible corporate governance
— Efforts to protect natural resources through our environmental management system and achieve carbon neutrality for the whole Group by 2015
— Our social commitment
At the end of 2012, it was decided to set up a cross-business-field Corporate Responsi- bility Committee for the Group-wide management of these activities.
We have underscored our approach to corporate responsibility by signing up to inter- national guidelines. First and foremost among these is the UN Global Compact, which we joined in 2007. Its ten principles provide the fundamental framework for our cor- porate responsibility strategy. Guidelines for investments geared to sustainability criteria are provided by the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), which we
New CR committee manages Group-wide activities
2012 2011
Average length of service
11.6 years 10.8 years
implement via our asset manager MEAG. At least 80% of our holdings in equities, cor porate and government bonds, and real estate (constructed since 2010) should meet sustainability criteria. Since 2010, our socially responsible investment strategy has also included investments in renewable energy and new technologies (RENT). MEAG has invested around €1bn for us in this area. In the medium term, we plan to expand our commitment up to €2.5bn. On top of this, we seek to invest a total of around €1.5bn in infrastructure projects such as power supply, transport and telecommunications. By the end of 2012, we had already invested €500m in this sector.
In recent years, Munich Re has played an active part in developing the Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI) of the United Nations Environmental Programme Finance Initiative. In June 2012, the PSI were officially unveiled and signed at the RIO+20 UN conference. As with the PRI, which Munich Re was the first German company to join, we were among the first signatories. We will use the PSI as a yardstick for integrating environmental, social and governance criteria even more strongly into our core busi ness. In so doing, we will simultaneously improve our risk management.
Commitment to conserving natural resources is an equally important part of our cor porate responsibility strategy, given that our economic success is inseparably linked with protecting people and the environment. With this in mind, we are recording our envir onmental data with increasing precision: in 2012, a total of 80% of all employees in 31 Munich Re units were covered by our environmental management system, with 30% working in units that have been certified to ISO14001.
To help raise public awareness regarding climate change, we endeavour to set a good example ourselves: by 2015, we will make business operations throughout our Group carbonneutral. The first step was to reduce emissions Groupwide by at least 10% per employee, based on emissions in 2009. In a second step, we are neutralising unavoid able CO2 emissions by means of appropriate certificates. Our Munich site has been carbonneutral since 2009, as have the major locations of ERGO Germany since 2011. This objective was achieved for the whole reinsurance group in the reporting year 2012. Since the end of 2012, for example, more than 4,000 square metres of solar panels have been powering the office buildings of Munich Re in Princeton with a volume of 2.5 megawatts per year. Our subsidiary DKV Seguros in Spain, which already achieved the objective in 2007, last year became the first European insurer to have its products certified as carbonneutral. Altogether, we have saved more than 5,500 tonnes of CO2 globally since 2009 with our consistent environmental management.
Our social commitment at Munich Re’s different business locations will be structured even more systematically in future. We have devised a corporate citizenship concept in which we underpin this commitment with expertise from our operational activities. Last year, for instance, we launched a twoyear project for earthquake disaster preven tion in India. The local measures include training people how to behave when earth quakes occur, and the structural consolidation of state buildings like schools, hospitals and other important infrastructure. This projectbased approach is supplemented by the work of our three corporate foundations. The Munich Re Foundation, for example, is supporting a project in Mozambique for developing effective flood prevention measures. It again staged its annual International Microinsurance Conference in 2012, with more than 400 participants from 50 countries, making it the world’s largest platform for this topic. ERGO’s Youth & Future Foundation has the objective of enhancing personal and career opportunities for young people. The Dr. HansJürgen Schinzler Foundation, set up in 2004, encourages the social commitment of Munich Re employees and coordi nates corporate volunteering activities at our Munich site where, for example, more than 1,500 hours of voluntary charity work were “donated” in 2012.
Munich Re signs the Principles for Sustainable Insurance
DKV Seguros is the first European insurer to have its products certified as carbonneutral
More details of our Groupwide activities in the field of corporate responsibility are provided at www.munichre.com/cr/en
In order to make our corporate responsibility approach transparent, Munich Re main- tains active contact with socially responsible investment rating agencies and inter- ested investors, and provides detailed information on its activities not only through our Group-wide corporate responsibility portal but also, since 2012, in a separate ERGO sustainability report. Our improved results in several ratings and our regular inclusion in internationally renowned sustainability indices confirm that we are on the right track. Thus, for example, Munich Re has been an ever-present in the FTSE4Good and Dow Jones Sustainability Index since 2001. Since signing the UN Global Compact in 2007, we also report annually on our progress in implementing the principles: our Com- munication on Progress is prepared in accordance with the guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative.
Corporate responsibility offers Munich Re the chance to strengthen the trust of share- holders, clients, employees and the public in our Group and to successfully meet tomorrow’s challenges.