How Aviva plans to cut carbon emissions
Aviva says that its focus on combating climate change has intensified on three fronts: carbon reduction, carbon offsetting and enhanced employee education and engagement on the issue.
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In 2007, its newly formed energy steering group issued a UK energy policy, and implemented a “five, four, three” strategy to reduce like-for-like usage of electricity by 5pc, gas and carbon dioxide by 4pc and water by 3pc.
In the first year of “five, four, three”, reductions exceeded expectations in two categories, with water use down by 4.8pc and gas dropping 12.3pc, though electricity use fell by just 3.9pc.
Global efforts are accelerating too. Last year, Aviva set itself a worldwide reduction target on carbon emissions of 5pc. In 2007, 61pc of the group’s worldwide electricity was purchased from supplies providing renewable and zero-emission electricity generated by wind, solar, biomass, hydro and combined heat and power sources — an increase of 6pc on the previous year.
To reduce long-distance travel, Aviva has launched high-definition telepresence video-conferencing suites in its offices in London, York, Norwich, Pune in India, and in regional offices in North America and across Asia-Pacific.
In waste management, the group reduced its total waste from 19,719 tons in 2006 to 18,877 tons in 2007, increasing the amount recycled from 12,622 tons to 16,672 tons.
The proportion of waste recycled increased from 64pc to 88pc in the UK, where Aviva has recycling schemes for 14 different types of waste. The group has instigated a “binless office” policy, which it is rolling out across its operations and it has also introduced initiatives ranging from reusing disposable coffee trays to recycling mobile phones.
Aviva chief executive Andrew Moss is also a participant in the CBI Climate Change Taskforce, which has called on government, business and consumers to factor climate change into day-to-day life.