Assurant 2014 Annual Report Download - page 6

4 ▪ 2014 ASSURANT ANNUAL REPORT
Our Corporate Social Responsibility Commitment
Our core values — Common Sense, Common Decency, Uncommon Thinking and Uncommon Results — guide our
every action.
Embedded in our Assurant culture and refl ected in our values is a passion to serve our communities that is at
the heart of our sustainability practices.
As a provider of specialty insurance and related products to safeguard against risks, we understand the
importance of protecting what matters most. Being a responsible corporate citizen is common sense -- for
our customers, business partners, shareholders, employees and our neighbors.
Our employees reach out in many ways to enhance the quality of life in the communities where we operate
and serve. Through the Assurant Foundation, we focus on a variety of health and wellness, homes and
property and other hometown help initiatives. From supporting United Way’s health and education programs,
or the fi nancial literacy efforts of Junior Achievement, to our employees volunteering to build affordable
homes through Habitat for Humanity, Assurant is creating opportunities for a better, brighter future.
We also are supporting a more sustainable future by investing time and resources to reduce our carbon
footprint. With operations in 1 3 countries, we’re integrating environmental considerations into our business
planning, including by:
• recycling and reusing resources to reduce waste;
• conserving water with more effi cient cooling systems; and,
• improving our energy effi ciency and our operations.
We have improved our energy performance by making cost-effective enhancements to our buildings such as
switching to high-effi ciency lighting. Since 2009, Assurant has reduced electrical energy usage annually by
seven percent -- that’s enough energy to power more than 2,000 average size homes for one year. We also
added solar power to our energy mix in 2013, launching the largest solar installation in Springfi eld-Dayton,
Ohio.
Our robust efforts helped us earn U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ENERGY STAR® performance
certifi cations for six buildings at four of our locations. The ENERGY STAR designation signifi es that these
buildings perform in the top 25 percent of similar facilities nationwide for energy effi ciency and meet the
strict energy effi ciency performance levels set by the EPA.
To further improve environmental performance at Assurant, in addition to energy reduction efforts already
underway, our sustainability plans include:
• continuing to encourage environment-friendly practices as we work with vendors and suppliers;
• conserving natural resources and further promoting responsible forestry practices; and,
• developing innovative and fl exible sustainability solutions to improve our operational performance.
All of these actions further our commitment to building an even stronger future — for our company, communities
and the environment.