Development carbon footprint business operations
The figure below shows the forecast carbon footprint from our business operations. This carbon footprint was temporarily lower in 2020 and 2021 because fewer journeys were made and employees stayed away from the office or only came in occasionally.
Reducing energy usage buildings and data centers
As part of our sustainability ambition we are striving for climate neutral business operations in 2030 and have sharpened our goals regarding energy reduction substantially. Our strategy to achieve goals is based on our new way of working and the deployment of sustainable energy generation. Because of the new way of working we are working from home more often than in the office. This will realize a net reduction of our energy use. We want to possibly invest in solar panels, geothermic and other means of sustainable energy generation which we can apply to our locations. By migrating our on-prem servers to the cloud, we are also reducing carbon emissions out of datacenters.
Goal carbon reduction energy usage building: in 2023, 2024 and 2025 we will reduce our carbon emissions (compared to 2019) with 31%, 36% and 42% respectively.
Reducing the number of journeys our employees make and making their travel more sustainable
We are making our employees’ travel more sustainable by, for example, implementing an electric vehicle lease policy and reducing carbon emissions from commuter and business journeys. We have a range of mobility schemes that encourage the use of public transport and/or bicycles, such as the provision of a public transport chip card including use of rental bikes and an allowance for journeys conducted on the employee’s own bicycle. At the same time, we have a clear vision of our new way of working that includes working from home. When it comes to international travel, our policy states that employees will in principle not travel by air within a radius of 700km.
Goal CO2 reduction in traffic mobility: in 2023, 2024 and 2025 we will reduce these CO2 emissions (compared to 2019) by 47%, 54% and 58% respectively.
Separating waste
As of 2015 all of Achmea’s waste is gathered, disposed and processed separately. We are striving to further reduce waste to achieve our goal of having a “waste-free office” in 2030.
Reducing paper-usage
The last few years paper-usage has declined significantly. More and more customer contact is conducted in a digital manner and working from home has reduced our employees printing habits drastically. This fits very well within Achmea’s ambition to become a digital insurance company.
