Aviva Canada CEO: "We have the most ambitious climate targets of any insurer in Canada"

In parallel to the firm’s journey to net zero, Aviva Canada is investing in building sustainability throughout its business and the communities it serves. In 2021, the insurer entered a flagship partnership with the leading conservation organization, World Wildlife Fund of Canada (WWF-Canada). Together, they’re working to improve the climate resilience of communities across Canada, and find nature-based climate solutions to both capture and store carbon.

Over three years, Aviva Canada will invest over $1 million in WWF-Canada’s Nature and Climate Grant Program to help local groups and Indigenous organizations restore degraded lands and shorelines in order to improve habitats and capture carbon.

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“We have a great partnership with WWF-Canada, which is really focusing on tackling climate change, and the impact of biodiversity loss on climate change,” said Storah. “There are a number of different ways to take carbon out of the atmosphere – there are technology-based ways, and there are nature-based ways – and the partnership with WWF-Canada is really focused on the nature-based ways [and] helping deal with biodiversity loss.”

With the right restoration actions, nature can deliver as much as 30% of the cost-effective emissions reductions needed to achieve the goals set out in the Paris Agreement on climate action by 2030, according to WWF-Canada – a notion that Aviva Canada fully supports.

The WWF-Canada’s Nature and Climate Grant Program will support projects focused on planting trees, native seeds and plants, restoring natural saltwater flows, bank stabilization and habitat creation and enhancement in coastal zones, former agricultural sites, riparian zones, wetlands and forests.

Storah commented: “As a leading insurer we see first-hand the devastating impacts of climate change. Fixing a home means nothing if we ignore the natural surroundings and degraded lands and shorelines. We’re so proud to be partnering with WWF to lead this charge and make meaningful change in communities across Canada.”

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In addition to its work with WWF-Canada, Aviva Canada launched a pilot program following the catastrophic flooding in British Columbia in November 2021, which was focused on sustainable claims practices.

“A longer-term challenge we face from a climate, an ESG [environmental, social, and governance], and a net zero perspective is: how do we manage claims in a more sustainable way?” said Storah. “We’re looking at things like: What do we do with debris? What do we do with materials that could be recycled or materials that are hazardous? Does everything need to go to a landfill? And how do we track and calculate the carbon footprint of individual claims?

“We certainly weren’t doing that a year or two ago. We were talking about it, and we were looking at how we might get in that space, but I think 2021’s been a breakthrough year to really get into the details and the pragmatic actions that we need to take. We’ve done some great work out in B.C. and you can expect more work from us in that space going forward.”