MAPFRE has reduced its global carbon footprint by 25% by cutting down on fossil fuels and business travel, while increasing the use of renewable energy and remote working.

MAPFRE has exceeded all the targets it had set itself to reduce the carbon footprint generated by its activities. The insurance company has decreased its overall carbon footprint by 25% compared to 2019, which is 17.5 points above the target set for 2023 (7.5%).

This decrease is due to the Group’s efforts to continue moving towards the decarbonization of the economy, not only through investing and underwriting, but also through measures to reduce the footprint of its direct operations. These include the restriction of fossil fuels and electricity, the use of renewable energy sources such as solar energy, the replacement of its fleet of conventional vehicles with hybrid or electric vehicles, and the reduction of business travel and employee commuting to work.

Less fossil fuels

In 2023, the Group acquired 67% of its electricity with guarantees of origin certificates from 100% renewable sources, thanks to green electricity purchase contracts currently in place in countries such as Spain, Germany, and Paraguay (100%), Portugal (99%), Brazil (80%), Turkey (48%), Italy (48%), Peru (43%), and the US A (23%), which means that all of them are making greater use of clean energies and require less burning of fossil fuels in the generation of such electricity. In this regard, it is worth noting that the company has committed itself to ensuring that 100% of its electricity consumption will come from clean energies by 2030.

The company has also reduced its carbon footprint, mainly linked to fuel consumption, by 31%, far exceeding the target of 3%, largely due to the progressive replacement of its own fleet of vehicles with conventional combustion engines by hybrid or electric vehicles, which accounted for 22% of vehicles in 2023 and aims to reach 100% by 2030. The use of sustainable heating, which has enabled the company to replace oil and natural gas boilers with electric heat pumps, has also played a significant role.

Mobility: less business travel

The indirect carbon footprint, mainly associated with employee mobility, has also been reduced, specifically by 19% compared to 2019, a figure that far exceeds the target set (7% for this year) and which signals significant progress in this regard, since both business travel and commuting account for more than 68% of total emissions.

This decrease has been influenced by the company’s new travel policy, approved at the end of 2022, which aims to eliminate unnecessary travel and encourage the use of sustainable transport, such as the use of high-speed rail instead of air travel. Both measures have contributed to a 58% reduction in the carbon footprint from business travel in 2023 compared to 2019, significantly exceeding the planned target of 4% by 2023. The countries that have reduced their footprint the most are Venezuela (97%), Paraguay (95%), Honduras (94%), Ecuador (91%), and Colombia (90%).

Throughout 2023, hybrid work models (combining in-person and remote work) continued to gain ground within the Group. The carbon footprint from commuting during that year decreased by 3% compared to 2019, a figure that falls short of the targeted 8% reduction set for the year 2023.

22% less energy

In 2023, the MAPFRE Group’s energy consumption, linked to the energy consumption of buildings and the vehicle fleet, decreased by 22% compared to 2019, far exceeding the 2023 target of 11%. This decrease was due to the implementation of hybrid work models, the optimization of workspaces, investment in energy efficiency, and upgrading of automobile fleets to more efficient ECO engines. The countries that contributed the most to this reduction are Brazil (70%), Guatemala (64%), Turkey (47%), Colombia (45%) and the US A (35%).

More solar panels

Electricity consumption currently accounts for more than 68% of the Group’s energy consumption. In 2023, total purchased electricity decreased by 21 GWh, which is 19% less than in 2019. The countries that have made the greatest contribution to reducing electricity consumption are Brazil (57%), Turkey (51%), the US A (50%), Colombia (47%), Germany (46%), and Ecuador (35%).

Noteworthy was the impact of the installation of solar panels in Spain, with 4,700 photovoltaic panels, which generated 1.6 GWh at the company’s headquarters in 2023. In addition to the solar energy production in Spain, which reached 3.27 GWh in 2023, other countries such as Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Italy, and Peru followed suit, with a combined production of 0.25 GWh.