Doing Something for the Community
Uprooted trees line the path in this park in Düsseldorf.
Many people may still remember Storm Ela at Pentecost. In 2014, it swept across Düsseldorf and damaged around 40,000 trees. As Germany’s leading reinsurer for natural catastrophe risks, Deutsche Rück understands the importance of trees for a city’s climate resilience. It therefore naturally contributed to the reforestation of the city area through numerous tree donations.
Learning to Use Natural Resources Responsibly
Year after year during the Advent season, Deutsche Rück traditionally supports a wide range of initiatives. These include the theatre education project “Kinder können Klima” for primary schools in Düsseldorf and an educational programme for children and young people focusing on “honey bees”.
Through hands-on activities aimed at protecting insect habitats, the kids learned what they can actively do to support insects.
As part of the hands-on project ‘Our Drinking Water’, the kids built their own mini sewage treatment plant for use at home.
As part of the ‘Energy’ hands-on project, the children learnt how electricity is generated.
Together with the association Climate Ambassadors (Klimabotschafter e.V.), Deutsche Rück enabled the installation of a professional weather station at the Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium in Düsseldorf. In cooperation with Deutsche Umwelt-Aktion, it also regularly initiates hands-on projects such as an energy project in nursery schools (kindergartens), where young children were able to learn through play and experiment with how electricity is generated and how energy can be harnessed from the sun.
As a specialist in weather and climate, Deutsche Rück has a strong interest in inspiring children and young people to engage with topics of major social relevance and raising awareness of the responsible use of natural resources.
Under the guidance of educators and psychologists, the small association ‘Ukraine Refugee Aid’ gives young people a wide range of projects to take part in – from music, art and theatre to sport and even holiday care.
Another important project was the cooperation with the association Ukraine Flüchtlingshilfe (refugee aid), which supports traumatised children and young people who have come to Germany from the war zone.
Commitment Knows No Borders
Deutsche Rück is now active on several continents. It therefore made sense for the company to extend its social commitment beyond the borders of its home market from the end of 2025 onwards – for example through a football development project in India. The project empowers girls and young women to participate equally in society. Together with the children’s rights organisation Terre des Hommes and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Deutsche Rück will support the project for at least the next three years. Alongside sport, school education is also an essential component of the support project.
Along with the kids' rights organisation ‘Terre des Hommes’ and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Deutsche Rück is supporting the project for at least the next three years. In addition to sport, school education is also a key component of the project.
The goal of the programme is to empower girls and young women through football, enabling them to interact with boys and men on an equal footing.
Sustainability in own activities
Social commitment also means starting with oneself. Accordingly, Deutsche Rück has committed itself to sustainability in one of its core business areas. Together with the public-law body VöV Rückversicherung KöR, Deutsche Rück joined the investor initiative PRI (Principles for Responsible Investment) in 2019. PRI was founded in 2005 under the auspices of the United Nations. By signing up, Deutsche Rück committed itself to the sustainable management of its investments and pledged to take environmental, social and ethical criteria into account in its investment decisions.