Environment

Like many businesses we aim to reduce the environmental impact of our day-to-day operations by consuming fewer resources, generating less waste and recycling more. But to us environmental protection is much more than minimising our day-to-day impacts. As an insurance business, we operate by predicting and pricing risk. Climate change poses a significant risk to the planet and communities around the world, including here in the UK.

Climatewise

Since 2007 we have been active in industry-wide initiatives on climate change, as a founder of the Climatewise Principles an insurance sector collaboration that aims to respond to the risks and opportunities posed by climate change and as an active participant in the Prince of Wales Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change.

Carbon Trust

In 2008 we worked with the Carbon Trust to calculate the carbon footprint of our direct operations, including energy use at our sites and business travel and set a target to reduce our energy use by 20% per employee by 2012 based on a 2006 baseline. A key initiative is the installation of computer power down software throughout the business which when fully installed should reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1,000 tonnes per year.

Environmental Management

In 2009, AXA PPP healthcare achieved ISO 14001 international standard for Environmental Management. Environmental initiatives include the use of on-site solar panels and zero-emission electric vans and a reduction in paper usage of 22% in just a year. In addition more than 50% of the paper used is from recycled or Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) accredited sources and the company is on track for 80%. The ISO14001 auditor was impressed with the way our employees were engaged in driving our environment programme forwards. We achieve this through our 24-strong GreenWatch employee forum, which provides ideas and guidance on our environment programme.