We strive to be good environmental stewards of the resources required to run our business. We make decisions with cross-departmental and climate benefits about how much office space we have and how we use it, the composition of our vehicle fleet, and our procurement choices. We're setting ambitious targets to ensure that Allstate is doing its part to put everyone's future in good hands.
Overview
Allstate's business is affected by the worsening impacts of climate change. Like all businesses, we also contribute to climate change. To mitigate this, we focus on our operational footprint. We measure and aim to minimize greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the buildings and vehicles we own, the goods and services we buy, and the ways we move about to do business. This extensive effort, led by the Sustainability team, requires collaboration from all areas of the business, and in 2022 we made new commitments to amplify this work.
Accountability
Allstate's Sustainability team collaborates with leaders across all departments, particularly those responsible for Allstate's facilities, vehicle fleet and procurement strategy, to optimize sustainability performance. The Sustainability team reports monthly to the ESG Steering Committee and the Board of Directors receives regular updates.
The ESG Steering Committee meets monthly and supports Allstate’s commitment to the environment, health and safety, corporate social responsibility, human capital management, corporate governance, sustainability and other public policy matters.
Policies and practices
Over the past several years, we have measured our GHG emissions and launched resource reduction and recycling programs related to our buildings, vehicles and business supplies.
In 2010, Allstate set a goal to achieve a 20% absolute energy-use reduction within our owned portfolio against the 2007 baseline by 2020. We surpassed that 2020 goal in 2014. Deepening our dedication to a lower-carbon future, in 2022 we announced our commitment to achieve net zero emissions for direct, indirect and value-chain greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Read more about the commitment in our Climate strategy and disaster resiliency section.
Greenhouse gas emissions
To understand Allstate's impact on climate and work to manage it, we have measured our annual GHG emissions since 2007. We quantify our GHG emissions in units of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e), which includes the emissions from various greenhouse gases and converts them, on the basis of their global-warming potential (GWP), to the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide. See our 2023 CDP Climate Change report, once published, for our measured and verified emissions from calendar year 2022. At the time of publishing this report, our most up to date, complete emissions inventory was from calendar year 2021. In 2021, as in every year since 2014, we measured and verified our Scope 1 and 2 emissions, measured Scope 3 emissions for categories 1-7 (see below), and verified Scope 3 Category 6, business travel.
| Scope 1 (mt CO2e) [verified] | Scope 2 (mt CO2e) [verified] | Scope 3 (mt CO2e) |
| 20,932 | 69,332 | 523,313 |
| Emissions from sources Allstate owns and has operational control over, like burning natural gas in our facilities or gasoline in our fleet of vehicles. | Emissions associated with Allstate's purchased energy use that occur in locations we do not own or control, like the electricity that powers our facilities. | Emissions not produced or owned by Allstate that we're indirectly responsible for, up and down our value chain. Of the fifteen Scope 3 categories, Allstate measures:
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Emissions displayed in this image are also available in Allstate's CDP Climate Change Reports, which are available to view at CDP.net and AllstateSustainability.com. CDP reports disclose emissions and climate-related activities from the full calendar year prior to the year of publishing. Thus emissions data from calendar year 2022 will be publicly available when CDP reports are published in Q3 of 2023.
Changes we made to our real estate portfolio, facilities management and fleet composition and use have, for the most part, resulted in year-over-year reductions in Allstate's Scope 1 and 2 emissions.
Allstate's Scope 1 and Location-Based Scope 2 GHG Emissions, 2019 - 2021
Scope 3 emissions are more nuanced, and Allstate has been working to improve our calculation methodologies. Recent refinements, particularly to our purchased goods and services calculations, make our 2020 and 2021 Scope 3 emissions more comparable to one another than to those in years prior.
Measuring these GHG emissions gives us data to develop and prioritize reduction strategies. The practices and programs described below have already led to GHG emissions reductions paired with improved client and employee satisfaction. With our recent net zero commitment and forthcoming climate strategy, we expect to further accelerate our emissions reductions.
Real estate emissions reductions
As part of Allstate's multi-year Transformative Growth, during 2022 we reduced our real estate footprint of owned and leased Allstate and National General facilities from over 9 million square feet to under 7 million square feet. This downsizing of real estate reduces our operational energy and water usage, GHG emissions and waste production.
Of the office space the company still leases or owns, more than 694,000 square feet was LEED-certified as of Dec. 31, 2022. We reduced our energy consumption further by recapturing heat energy as a byproduct of Allstate’s data center operations and using energy-efficient equipment and systems. In 2022, lighting updates in some of our remaining facilities saved an additional 211,167 kWh of electricity.
Real estate footprint reduction
In October 2022, we sold our 232-acre campus in Northbrook, Illinois. As featured on Fortune.com, this accounted for 2 million square feet of Allstate's real estate footprint reduction. In addition to reducing operational GHG emissions and environmental impacts, this shift offers Allstate major savings on operational energy consumption, internet usage and IT costs. Allstate redistributed and recycled much of the furniture from the offices, donating 67,500 pounds to schools, colleges and charities. Allstate supports the 5,400 employees who used to report to the campus through its work-from-anywhere strategy. 83% of those employees chose to work remotely after the closure, and Allstate continues to offer desks at several offices, all accessible by public transportation.
Renewable Energy Credits (RECs)
Allstate's priority in terms of GHG emissions is to prevent them from happening. Our real estate reductions, reuse and recycling partnerships, and sustainable procurement decisions work together with continued focus on limiting our emissions where possible. Until the electrical grids in our operating locations fully decarbonize, however, providing power to our facilities will continue to produce GHG emissions. To compensate, we purchase renewable energy credits (RECs). In 2021, Allstate purchased RECs to cover 100% of the 44,319 MWh of electricity use from our Illinois and Texas facilities. This represents 26% of our total U.S. electricity use from owned and leased facilities in that year and is equivalent to 20,579 metric tonnes of CO2e emissions. For an update on Allstate's use of RECs in 2022, keep an eye out for our 2023 CDP report in Q3, available at CDP.net and AllstateSustainability.com.
Centralized waste
Allstate’s goal is to implement centralized waste, a system for properly separating and disposing of recyclables and landfill waste, across all new locations and 100% of existing locations by 2023. As of 2022, Allstate has a waste removal request for proposals that stipulates vendors report on landfill, recycling, compost and diversion quantities. Unfortunately, due to our reduced real estate footprint, we have received limited interest in participating in the RFP. Only two vendors had submitted responses at the time of this report, and neither met the RFP's requirements for reporting on quantities of waste landfilled, recycled and composted.
Programs and performance
Allstate’s vehicle fleet
Allstate operates a fleet of sedans and SUVs to support business travel requirements across the company. Several years ago, we started to use more hybrid vehicles to improve fuel economy and reduce our GHG emissions. We have also reduced the size of our fleet as we rely more on aerial surveys for claims data. Allstate’s goal is to have 100% hybrid vehicles by 2025 and to incorporate fully electric vehicles thereafter. At the end of 2022, Allstate's legacy fleet was 85% hybrid, and the company's total fleet, which includes Avail and National General vehicles, was 52% hybrid. Avail is moving to a zero-fleet model through peer-to-peer car-sharing, and each time a National General vehicle is no longer serviceable, it is replaced with a hybrid.
Paper reduction
To prevent waste, Allstate reduces printing and paper use and instead keeps documents and communications electronic whenever possible. In 2019, record retention for claim files was reduced from 25 to 7 years, shrinking our Record Center footprint and minimizing Record Center operating costs from $6.2 million in 2016 to approximately $2.1 million in 2022. From 2019-2022, we reduced mailings by 21% (32 million mailings reduction), paper use by 23% (1.55 billion pounds of paper reduction), and envelope use by 27% (54 million envelope reduction). In addition to reducing our use of paper, we recycled approximately 470,800 pounds of paper in 2022.
Print center – mailings, paper and envelope trend (2019 to 2022)
Allstate has made significant progress toward eliminating paper consumption by digitizing the procurement process. In 2022, our e-signature system executed 3,566 electronic contracts with suppliers.
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Allstate has invested $12.5 million in improving customers’ digital, paperless experience since 2015. Our eDelivery and Document Management teams offer three paperless initiatives: eSignature, ePolicy and eBill. Customers are prompted to use our online self-service hub to sign up for these free services, and these programs were highly utilized in 2022.
Carbon-neutral flooring
Allstate makes intentional decisions about the resources we purchase. In 2022, Allstate purchased 6,303 square yards of carbon-neutral carpet tile from Interface. Interface is a global leader in modular flooring, which is easier to install and maintain and allows customers to replace specific sections, enhancing resource efficiency. They're also the first and only flooring manufacturer to achieve third-party Carbon Neutral Enterprise certification. They eliminate as many emissions as they can through manufacturing decisions and innovation, and compensate for the rest with verified emissions credits. Verified by Apex, this flooring purchase offsets 51 mtCO2e.
Windshield recycling partnership
Allstate partners with Safelite to provide customers with windshield glass replacement and recycling services. Safelite recycles the damaged windshield that it removes, separating the glass and vinyl interlayer, which is then converted into new products such as fiberglass insulation and carpet backing. It is estimated that over 90% of windshield materials can be recycled, and since its inception in 2012, Safelite’s recycling program has recycled 15 million windshields. Safelite reports that 1 ton of CO2 emissions are prevented for every 6 tons of glass recycled, and through this partnership, Allstate recycled 3,604 tons of glass during 2022. The long-term benefits of our valued partnership include the reduction of waste to landfill, energy conservation and the creation of eight jobs for every 1,000 tons of glass recycled.
Vehicles reuse and recycling partnership
Extreme weather events such as floods and hurricanes produce thousands of flood-damaged vehicles. Allstate partners with Copart's recovery services and online auction to retrieve, resell and remarket these vehicles. Extending the life of vehicles and automobile parts through reuse and recycling reduces the carbon emissions and costs associated with manufacturing automobiles and automobile components in support of a circular economy. This program has a positive effect on Allstate’s bottom line through the reuse and resale of the materials derived from these damaged vehicles and conserves the consumption of scarce materials.
Electronics reuse and recycling partnership
Allstate works with Danlaw, Inc., HOBI International and Reconext (formerly Clover Wireless Inc.) to keep electronics in circulation and operating efficiently and to recycle them.
Our customers' recovered Milewise and Drivewise devices are digitally wiped and tested for functionality by Danlaw, then sent to Arity for redeployment. Alternatively, Danlaw buys back retired Milewise and Drivewise devices, reconditions them and provides Arity with a credit on new device purchases for devices that are resellable. Devices that are not resellable are recycled by HOBI or Danlaw in partnership with Allstate and Arity.
Allstate facilities nationwide are serviced with IT and mobile asset disposition by certified women-owned business enterprise HOBI International Inc. HOBI helps Allstate ensure staffers are using up-to-date energy-efficient equipment and manages energy-efficient shipments to and from distributed employees. HOBI safely recycles and disposes of outdated Allstate devices, recovering precious metals that can be reused without compromising sensitive information. In 2022, Allstate's partnership with HOBI kept 39,249 electronic devices in circulation through reuse, and recycled 7,101 more.
Reconext also provides its services to Allstate to salvage small electronic devices, such as cellphones and tablets, that cannot be repaired or restored. Reconext provides clients, including Allstate, with a customizable trade-in platform to simplify the execution and oversight of the program in its three key areas: collection/shipping, reporting/payment and customer support. Allstate's relationship with Reconext began in 2017.
Sustainable procurement
The magnitude of our global procurement activity means our procurement practices have far-reaching effects, and we can positively influence the businesses from which we source products and services.
The Sourcing & Procurement Solutions team implements the Allstate Sustainable Procurement Program to mitigate corporate risks and align procurement decisions with environmental and social sustainability. The Responsible Procurement team oversees our sustainable procurement strategy, which increases visibility in the supply chain and evaluates, tracks and mitigates risk exposures. We are working to understand how suppliers manage factors such as GHG emissions, waste, diversity, equity and inclusion, regulatory compliance, and cybersecurity, to further articulate and progress Allstate’s expectations. Aligning our procurement decisions with environmental and social responsibility increases the confidence of stakeholders who depend on Allstate’s performance.
Managing supplier impacts
Allstate works with suppliers to accelerate environmental and social improvements across the value chain. We manage environmental and social impacts in our supply chain through agreements, surveys, scorecards, resource reduction programs and policies.
All suppliers doing business with Allstate must adhere to our Supplier Code of Business Conduct, with requirements regarding human rights, environmental stewardship, diversity and inclusion, child labor and more. In 2022, the code's Environmental Stewardship section was updated with expectations relating to suppliers' climate action, environmentally preferred products and services, CDP disclosure, and the measurement and public disclosure of their climate activities. As of 2022, Allstate also expects suppliers to implement their own codes of conduct, in addition to adhering to Allstate's. To support suppliers who have not yet met this expectation, Allstate shares resources to help with code of conduct development.
Also new in 2022, Allstate implemented a Diversity and Sustainability Contract Governance Standard Process. Contractual sustainability language was added to riders for existing contracts and now appears in all new contract templates. The language establishes ESG expectations of suppliers and holds suppliers accountable for their ESG performance and actions, which can cause risk to Allstate's brand and reputation.