- Overview
- Our Carbon Footprint
- Corporate Social Responsibility
Our Current Carbon Footprint
In an effort to measure our environmental impact, Nationwide commissioned the Center for Resilience at the Ohio State University who partnered with Energent Solutions to evaluate our carbon footprint for 2008.
The footprint, completed in April 2009, includes the calculation of the several gases and chemicals that combine to make up greenhouse gases. The most common is carbon dioxide, and nearly all of Nationwide’s emissions come from carbon dioxide.
The researchers calculated all gas emissions in a ratio and reported them as carbon dioxide “equivalents.” That helps make comparisons between users whose emissions are mostly fumes from vehicles or power-plant smokestacks with those manufacturers who release a lot of other chemicals while producing goods.
Most of Nationwide’s emissions come from large office buildings and the data centers that house our computer servers. They accounted for 75 percent of the footprint. The largest driver of those emissions (71 percent) comes from the use of electricity. Other major contributors included the Nationwide vehicle fleet fumes (14.1 percent) and business travel (11.1 percent).
We also calculated our carbon intensity, which allows for general comparisons such as how much carbon is used per employee, or by facility square footage or the amount of economic activity we generate.
Using footprints, the center concluded that insurance carriers are among the most “eco-efficient” industries in the nation. Among 488 industry sectors, insurance carriers have one of the lowest carbon emissions relative to economic value they create. We are even lower than other white-collar industries. For example:
- Insurance – Generates 69,000 tons of emission for every $1 billion of wealth created
- Legal Services – Generate 116,000 tons for every $1 billion
- Airline Carriers – Generate 1.7 million tons for every $1 billion
Because electricity use is the major component of our carbon footprint, the types of fuels burned by our electricity suppliers have the greatest impact on the size of our footprint.
“We sought out a carbon footprint assessment last year to help us gain a better understanding of our greenhouse gas emissions and enhance our role as an environmental steward,” said Scot Zajic, assistant vice president of public policy, and leader of the 40-member Green Team. “Knowing our carbon footprint helps us determine what we can do to reduce our own impact on the environment as well as help shape public policy decisions aligned with the interests of our customers and businesses.”
