Key indicators of operational ecology
Energy consumption
Electricity, water, and heating consumption data up to and including 2024 are available to Rentenbank. The category of indirectly purchased electricity is relevant due to Rentenbank’s status as a lessee. Whereas directly purchased electricity is used to power staff offices, charging poles, and kitchen appliances, other electricity-consuming equipment like air conditioning, cooling, and elevator systems use the indirectly purchased building power. The electricity used to operate the building is ordered by the lessor and charged to Rentenbank. Whereas the generating sources of the building’s power had been equivalent to the overall power mix in Germany until the end of 2021, 100% of the power used since January 2022 has been generated from renewable energy sources.
The energy-saving measures introduced in the second half of 2022 in the context of a looming shortage of natural gas have been continued without interruption. These measures made it possible to reduce the bank’s consumption of resources from the year-ago levels, particularly with respect to electricity consumption per employee. Some of the decrease in directly purchased electricity is reflected in an increase in indirectly purchased electricity due to a billing change in this area.
Key indicators of operational ecology
| Bank operation | 2024 | 20231 | 20221 | 20211 |
| Directly purchased electricity (in kWh) | 669,811 | 668,851 | 801,400 | 872,373 |
| Of which from eco-power (in %) | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Indirectly purchased electricity (in kWh) (building power) | 1,697,937 | 1,645,791 | 1,515,991 | 1,338,241 |
| Of which from eco-power (in %) | 100 | 100 | 100 | 65 |
| Electricity consumption per employee (in kWh) | 5,624 | 5,966 | 6,455 | 6,426 |
| Heating energy (in MJ) | 9,458,972 | 8,571,881 | 7,556,432 | 7,520,508 |
| Heating energy per empoloyee (in MJ) | 22,468 | 22,092 | 21,049 | 21,862 |
| Employees (full-time equivalents) | 421 | 388 | 359 | 344 |
Motor vehicle pool and business travel
A slight increase from the previous year can be observed in the consumption data for the motor vehicle pool. The increase in trips using petrol-powered vehicles resulted from the higher number of on-site audits and inspections related to the programmes of the German federal government.
Hybrid vehicles and fully electric vehicles accounted for 55% of the entire motor vehicle fleet at the end of 2024. The implementation of the new company car policy adopted on 1 January 2024 will lead to an increase in the percentage of electric vehicles in 2025.
Key indicators of operational ecology
| Motor vehicles | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
| Petrol (in l) | 5,270 | 4,211 | 4,072 | 4,357 |
| Diesel (in l) | 2,498 | 2,110 | 926 | 205 |
| Electricity (in kWh) | 1,004 | 1,066 |
The number of business trips was nearly unchanged although the distance covered was slightly higher. The kilometre distribution among the different modes of transportation is similar to the previous year. The share of kilometres covered by airline flights increased, while the relative share of kilometres covered by roadway and railway trips was modestly lower in both cases. Nevertheless, the emissions target set for 2024 of less than 0.25 t CO2e per employee due to business travel was achieved.
In calculating business trips using an automobile, a distinction was made between trips using a company car and trips with the employee’s car. Emissions from company-owned cars are sub-divided into direct emissions from fuel combustion and indirect emissions caused in the production of the automobile (for example), where no such distinction is made with respect to vehicles not belonging to the bank’s motor vehicle fleet.
Business trips by means of transport in 2024
| Means of transport | t CO2e | ||
| km (in thsd) | Scope 1 | Scope 2 | |
| Passenger vehicles (including upstream emissions per VfU) | 113.08 | 19.2 | 20.2 |
| Of which motor vehicle pool, diesel | 17.00 | 6.7 | 4.8 |
| Of which motor vehicle pool, petrol | 54.16 | 12.5 | 8.3 |
| Of which motor vehicle pool, hybrid and electric | 20.24 | Included in electricity consumption | Included in electricity consumption |
| Of which employees’ vehicles | 21.68 | 7.1 | |
| Rail transport | 447.53 | 7.3 | |
| Air travel | 288.15 | 40.8 | |
| Of which short-range (up to 500 km) | 16.31 | 2.2 | |
| Of which long-range | 271.84 | 38.6 | |
| Distance divided by emissions per employee (full-time equivalents) | 2.01 | 0.05 | 0.16 |
| Emissions calculated in accordance with the VfU Standard, Update 2022, Version 1.0 | |||
Resource consumption
The target of reducing paper consumption to below 850,000 pages by 2024 was not only achieved but significantly over-achieved. In view of this strong improvement, the paper consumption target was adjusted downwards to 300,000 sheets by the year 2026.
The overall waste quantity was slightly higher than in the previous year, but the waste quantity per employee was below the level of the previous year.
Key indicators of operational ecology
| Ressource | 2024 | 20231 | 20221 | 20211 |
| Paper | ||||
| Paper consumption total (Sheet) | 504,133 |
410,000 |
793,925 |
1,016,125 |
| Paper consumption per employee (Sheet) |
1,197 |
1,057 |
2,212 |
2,954 |
| Waste | ||||
| Waste quantity total (t) |
58.45 |
54.49 |
44.25 |
95.85 |
| Of which non-hazardous waste (%) | 100 |
100 |
100 |
100 |
| Of which paper and cardboard, including packaging4 (%) | 10.1 |
6.6 |
10.7 |
24.6 |
| Waste quantity per employee (kg) |
138.8 |
140.4 |
123.3 |
278.6 |
| Water | ||||
| Water consumption total (m3) | 4,574 |
5,268 |
6,904 |
5,709 |
| Water consumption per employee (l) | 10,865 |
13,578 |
19,232 |
16,579 |
| Employees(full-time equivalents) | 421 |
388 |
359 |
344 |
Emissions
The extended collection of operational ecology consumption data enables us to conduct a more detailed computation of the emissions caused in each case. The emissions from the building power are reflected in Scope 3 because the power is ordered by the lessor. We have also calculated the emissions associated with our consumption of paper and water and production of waste. In the table below, the estimates used in previous years have been replaced with calculated values. A computation of CO2 emissions from the lending portfolio is provided in the “Promotional programmes” section of the Financial Report.
Key indicators of operational ecology
| Greenhouse gas emissions (t CO2e) | 2024 | 20231 | 20221 | 2021 |
| Scope 1 emissions | 540.1 | 487.7 | 428.3 | 255.0 |
| Scope 2 emissions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Scope 1 und Scope 2 emissions per employee | 1.3 |
1.3 |
1.2 |
0.7 |
| Scope 3 emissions | 293.5 | 276.6 | 234.8 | 569.9 |
| Electricity (indirect) | 33.1 | 32.2 | 30.9 | 338.2 |
| Paper | 2.3 | 1.8 | 3.6 | 4.6 |
| Heating (indirect) | 154.7 |
140.2 |
123.6 |
72.5 |
| Water | 2.8 | 3.3 | 4.3 | 2.6 |
| Waste | 32.4 | 31.4 | 20.7 | 44.0 |
| Electricity for external data centre3 | 9.6 |
7.2 |
108.0 |
|
| Business travel (including upstream emissions) | 68.1 |
58.0 |
44.5 |
- |
| Total emissions measured per employee | 2.0 |
2.0 |
1.8 |
2.4 |
| Employees (full-time equivalents) | 421 |
388 |
359 |
344 |
| Emissions calculated in accordance with the VfU Standard, Update 2022, Version 1.0 | ||||