The Board Governance Committee met four times in 2019 to oversee how Aviva meets its corporate and societal obligations. This included setting the guidance, direction and policies for Aviva’s customer and corporate responsibility agenda, advising the Board and management on the assessment of the Group’s exposure to climate-related risks and recommending to the Board management actions to mitigate these risks and grasp opportunities. The Committee also approved the Group’s Environment and Climate Change Business Standard and ensured alignment with the Group’s strategy (NB this Committee has now been replaced by the Board Customer Conduct and Reputation Committee).
The Board Risk Committee manage and monitor all aspects of risk management and climate-related risks and opportunities were noted in four of the six 2019 meetings. Climate change is classified as one of the most material long-term risks to Aviva’s business model.
“For our customers and our business, addressing climate change and supporting the transition to a low carbon future represents the largest combined health, life, liability and general insurance contract that the world could sign-up to. The risks and uncertainty resulting from us not doing so are immense.”
Aviva is working collaboratively with the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), industry associations, sector peers, academics, professional bodies, external consultancies, regulators and international agencies, including the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance, to build robust, comprehensive and effective tools and approaches.
Aviva was awarded the Climate Risk Initiative of the Year 2020 by InsuranceERM, noting the: “Climate value-at-risk (VaR) initiative shows the practical benefits that can be achieved when insurers focus resources, time and expertise on climate risk management, as well as collaborating with other knowledge partners.”
Aviva Investors approach to implementing the Group strategy is based on the three pillars of:
- Responsibility Built-in
- Connected Thinking
- Powering Change.