Managing Our Impact

We annually disclose our companywide carbon footprint, including Allstate's emissions
of greenhouse gases and our strategy to manage these emissions.

We report these results annually via the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) voluntary questionnaire.

We also are a member of Ceres and use the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Guidelines and Financial Services Sector Supplement to report annual progress on environmental and other social responsibility issues.

Company Compliance

During 2010, Allstate and its subsidiaries did not pay any significant fines for noncompliance with environmental laws or regulations. Allstate did receive a ticket from the U.S. DOT for alleged noncompliance with employee hazmat training. Allstate responded that we do not have any

employees who meet the definition of a hazmat employee, and therefore we are not subject to the hazmat training requirement. Although Allstate felt that this penalty should not apply, the ticket was paid and Allstate put processes in place to comply with the items cited by the U.S. DOT.

Paper Reduction

As a financial services company, Allstate does not have significant emissions or waste associated with the distribution of its products. One of the most important materials we purchase and use is paper. In 2008, we identified paper reduction as one of our top environmental priorities and in April 2009, we launched an internal office paper reduction campaign, with the goal of reducing overall office paper use by 25 percent by 2010.

We significantly exceeded that goal by reducing companywide use of multipurpose office paper by 41% in Home Office and more than 50% in Field offices as of year-end 2010.

Paper Cuts

It might not be a surprise that paper is one of the things an insurance company uses most. In 2009, Allstate used approximately 3.7 billion sheets of paper — equal to approximately 450,000 trees. So we made cutting paper use a top environmental priority, launching a company-wide paper reduction campaign in April 2009.
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Our goal was to reduce overall office paper use by 25 percent by 2010, saving thousands of trees and approximately $1 million in annual savings. The plan asked employees to make four changes in the way they used paper: eliminate separator sheets on shared printers, print double-sided (duplex) whenever possible, don’t print unless necessary and recycle used paper.

Allstate worked with all departments across the enterprise to turn off the separator-sheet option on all networked printers.

The result: we significantly surpassed our goal to cut paper use 25%. At the end of 2010, Allstate reduced office paper use by 41% in Home Office and more than 50% in our Field offices, resulting in a total savings of $750,000.

Encouraged by our in-house effort, we then turned to paper used in communicating with Allstate’s customers. Every year we send approximately 121 million billing-related documents through the mail. Again, we set an ambitious goal of reducing customer paper 20% by 2013 (using 2009 as a baseline).

At the end of 2010, we were well ahead of this target as well. Offering paperless options such as eBill and automatic payment plans such as the Allstate EZPay, combined with eliminating unnecessary customer bill documents, cut customer-focused paper use by 11.8 percent, compared with our 2009 baseline. Overall we saved approximately 14 million pieces of paper and $7.8 million dollars in print and postage costs.

Allstate is continuing to work with our customers to help find more innovative, paperless, environmentally friendly solutions.

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Building Greener Buildings

Many of our environmental efforts focus on Allstate’s buildings and grounds, including our Home Office in Northbrook, Illinois, which encompasses approximately 2.3 million square feet of building space.

Allstate is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and participates in its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. We have three LEED^® Accredited Professionals on staff.

Our state-of-the-art data center in Rochelle, Illinois, built in 2009, was designed to meet LEED certification standards and has been certified at the Gold level by the USGBC. Allstate also occupies 99,936 square feet in a leased building in Houston that is LEED Silver certified.

Two of our Home Office campus buildings have undergone retro-commissioning reviews based on LEED criteria, and a number of energy conservation measures at those facilities are currently under way.

Data Center Tour

Eco-Friendly & High-Tech

Allstate now has one of America’s most
energy-efficient and environmentally conscious data centers in Rochelle, Illinois. Take a behind-the-scenes tour… Learn More >

Energy Reduction

We also look to reduce Allstate's greenhouse gas emissions, the bulk of which are associated with our use of electricity. So we focus on cutting energy consumption in our buildings — setting a goal of reducing energy use by 20% by 2020 within Allstate-owned facilities (relative to 2007 baseline).

Strategies include installing more efficient light fixtures and implementing daylight harvesting techniques in our owned facilities; improved efficiency in building operations and maintenance through retro-commissioning of heating and air-conditioning systems; and the installation of enhanced systems for optimized operation and performance.

In 2010, our overall energy use increased 0.32 percent, relative to the 2007 baseline. This increase was due to a variety of factors including:

2010 was the first full year of reporting for our new LEED Gold data center in Rochelle, Illinois.
Our corporate goal is limited to Allstate-owned facilities. While we have decreased leased space in recent years, at the same time we have moved more employees to owned facilities. As a result, our energy consumption in some owned buildings is increasing.
In 2012, we expect to see reduced energy consumption from the extensive renovations currently taking place on the nearly 2.3 million square foot Home Office campus, targeted for completion in early 2012.

Eliminating one bottle at a time

As part of extensive Home Office campus renovation, we are replacing our current bottled water service with environmentally friendly water filtration bottle filling stations. When the installation is complete in 2012, we expect to save $130,000 annually and eliminate thousands of plastic bottles from landfills each year. To date we have saved the use of over 84,000 plastic bottles.

To increase awareness of environmentally sustainable habits, each water fountain is equipped with a ticker that quantifies eliminated plastic waste from landfills.

Waste Management and Recycling

We work to minimize the amount of waste generated by our operations. In 2010, 1,041 tons of waste was hauled away from our Home Office campus.

We also have extensive programs to recycle as much waste as possible. Some examples:

In 2010, Allstate recycled approximately 5.1 million pounds of paper through desk-side recycling and press waste recycling from our main company print facility.
We recycled 163,360 pounds of aluminum cans and 119,634 pounds of plastic from our Home Office campus.
As part of extensive Home Office campus renovation in 2010, 1,063 tons of demolition and construction waste and 91,868 pounds of metal scrap were recycled.

Other recycling programs involve polystyrene, toner cartridges and carpet. We also partner with outside organizations to responsibly dispose of items such as computer hardware, batteries, fluorescent lamps, PCB light ballasts and similar items used at our Home Office campus and other locations.

Water Usage

Allstate's total water use at our Home Office comes from eight private water wells located on our property. In 2010, withdrawals of water from these wells totaled 70,682,600 gallons. This amount includes an estimated 8 million gallons due to an inoperative water meter on one of these wells. The meter was repaired in 2010.

Most of our water, approximately 75 percent, is used for drinking, bathrooms and kitchen. The rest is mostly used to operate cooling towers for our building heating systems.

Allstate has established programs to reduce water consumption, identify water saving opportunities and install water-saving devices where appropriate.

Our 250-acre Home Office campus also uses storm water retention ponds, making it nearly 100 percent self-sufficient for landscape irrigation purposes.

Sterling Autobody

Sterling Autobody Centers, a wholly owned subsidiary of Allstate, operates 60 auto collision repair facilities in 16 states. Sterling's operations are specifically mentioned in, and covered by, Allstate's environmental policy. Sterling also has its own commitment to identifying and managing its environmental impacts and serving customers in ways that have a reduced impact on the environment.

The primary environmental impact in autobody shops involves organic solvents contained in the paints used to refinish vehicles. When these solvents evaporate from paint they can contribute to the formation of smog. In 2010, Sterling converted all the paint in all of its facilities from solvent borne to environmentally friendly water-based paints.

Recognizing the importance of good safety habits as part of its commitment to environmental responsibility, Sterling Autobody recently launched a "Techs of Tomorrow" Safety & Environmental training series that brings environmentally conscious auto body courses to high school students. The program kicked off in 2010 with two schools and more than 70 students trained, with a goal to train more than 300 additional students in 2011.

When measured on a square footage basis, Sterling's owned and leased facilities constitute approximately 9 percent of Allstate's total real estate portfolio. Sterling has one LEED^® Accredited Professional on staff and Sterling's impacts from the energy needed to power the facilities is included in Allstate's carbon footprint reporting via the Carbon Disclosure Project questionnaire.

Working with Others

Beyond our own operations, Allstate's Sourcing and Procurement Solutions Department identifies environmentally responsible opportunities with the company's supply chain streams, and encourages business partnerships with suppliers who implement environmental policies of their own. Our procurement representatives purchase recyclable, recycled and refurbished products and materials whenever these products are available, economical and suitable.

Allstate is also actively engaged with a variety of environmental and corporate social responsibility organizations and groups. We are members or participants in the following projects and programs:

Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship
Business for Social Responsibility
Business Roundtable Climate RESOLVE
Carbon Disclosure Project
Ceres
Chicago Climate Change Task Force
Clean Air Counts
The Green Grid