Offices and Operations

MetLife is proud to have been the first U.S.-based insurer to reach carbon neutrality across our global corporate office portfolio, vehicle fleets and employee business travel, and we have maintained this designation for seven consecutive years.¹  

Globally, MetLife’s offices amount to approximately 11.1 million square feet. We are committed to developing programs that improve the financial and environmental performance of building space that we own or operate. This includes a commitment to reducing our consumption of energy, water, plastics, paper and other natural resources, as well as to providing our colleagues with healthy spaces where they can thrive. We prioritize sustainable building materials and design, high levels of indoor air quality, natural light and amenities such as bike storage, healthy dining options and sit-stand desks. Please see ESG Scorecard for information and data regarding our energy, water use and waste diversion.

MetLife’s GHG emissions have decreased 49% since 2019, our baseline year (see ESG Scorecard). Our progress to date positions us well to achieve our 2030 goal, despite an increase in emissions in the past year as colleagues returned to the office environment following the pandemic and business travel resumed. We expect to see further emissions reductions in the coming years as we implement strategies to optimize our office real estate portfolio. 

We have achieved LEED certifications for approximately 40.7 million square feet of real estate—3.7 million square feet attributed to the MetLife corporate office network and 37 million square feet of MIM-managed real estate properties.² In addition to LEED, MetLife prioritizes ENERGY STAR, Fitwel, Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) and other sustainable building certification programs.

Bringing Beehives to Additional Offices

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration: “Honey bees are indispensable to U.S. agriculture, yet their future and the future of dependent agricultural economies are perilous.” MetLife is supporting the proliferation of honey bees by introducing beehives to some of our office locations. 

Following the success of our beehives at our Cary, North Carolina, campus, we have again partnered with Bee Downtown to bring beehives to our Tampa, Florida, campus. 

Our bees in North Carolina produced 235 pounds of honey in 2022, flying 12.9 million miles in the process. This yield is 100% higher per hive than North Carolina’s reported state average.

We also achieved the ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year—Sustained Excellence award, recognizing MetLife and MIM for consecutive years of leadership in energy management. 

MetLife recertified three offices in the U.S. to Fitwel, a joint initiative of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the General Services Administration, created to enhance all buildings and communities to strengthen health and well-being. The certifications cover 1.1 million square feet of real estate, including our global headquarters in New York City. MIM has also obtained Fitwel certifications for 30 properties held in its real estate equity investment portfolio as of year end 2022, a significant increase from 17 at the end of 2021. 

MetLife Australia has opened our new Sydney office, a six-star Green Star-rated building.³ The building’s green features include energy efficiency, use of sustainable materials and leading waste management practices.

MetLife prioritizes waste and water reduction at our campuses. In the U.S. we have eliminated plastic bottles, cutlery and other containers across our dining and catering services. In EMEA, we have eliminated approximately 1.5 million pieces of paper through a digital customer communications campaign in 10 countries as we seek to achieve our regional aspiration for zero paper communications internally and 80% digital customer communication by 2025.