MetLife achieves carbon neutrality

MetLife Inc. announced that it achieved carbon neutrality last week.

The company is the first U.S.-based insurer to reach that goal.

“MetLife is committed to being a responsible corporate citizen and driving sound environmental stewardship across our business globally,” Marty Lippert, MetLife's executive vice president and global technology and operations head, said in a press release. “Sustainable business strategies not only reduce our environmental impact but also underscore who we are as a company.”

The company's goals, set in 2015, included carbon neutrality in 2016, reduction of energy consumption by 10 percent by 2020 and reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) by 10 percent by 2020. In addition to reducing its own carbon footprint, MetLife is supporting initiatives to install solar powered cookstoves in China, protect Columbia's tropical rainforest and capture emissions from New York's largest waste facility in order to transform the gasses into energy.

MetLife has been recognized for its work in reducing its environmental impact by the CDP (previously known as the Carbon Disclosure Project) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It was also named to the 2016 North American Dow Jones Sustainability Index.

MetLife continues its efforts to embed sustainability in its operations. It has reduced energy consumption by nearly 30 percent in its U.S. offices. The firm has also invested in green enterprises, including 37 wind and solar farms, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified properties and renewable energy projects.