What You Can Do To Become More Sustainable

At Zurich, we are committed to creating a brighter future for people, the planet, and our customers.

According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report (2022) the greatest threat to humanity remains climate action failure. Evidently, for change to happen, society needs to work together.

We reached out to Luke Redbond – Business Engagement Consultant at Zurich Insurance to fi nd out how businesses can begin or improve their sustainable shift. Essentially, in all your business decisions, sustainability must be a pivotal consideration.

1. Understand your starting point: Have a look and see what your current emissions are? How much oil, water and electric do you use? All this data is necessary for you to establish a baseline and to enable progression to be tracked. If possible, get a building audit conducted to see if it holds a BREAAM certifi cation?

2. Identity your priorities: It’s not as simple to suggest one change for all. We recognise that every business situation is diff erent. So, it’s important to understand ‘where’ for you, the biggest sustainable impact can be made. It isn’t about the ‘size’ of a project – it’s whether action is happening. 3. Set sustainable objectives: Why not allocate formal

‘sustainable’ leaders to drive these objectives? Transcend active encouragement across your company, recently we recognised a plethora of employees as ‘Heroes of Sustainability’. 4. Challenge your partners and suppliers: Ironically, it’s kind of what we’re doing now. Help others become sustainable.

Even a global company such as ourselves learns from others, for instance: one of our suppliers showed us a renewable, recyclable alternative to using plastic on our staff badges.

Having a conversation can strike signifi cant change. Talking to each of our landlords has led Zurich to achieve 100% renewable energy across all our offi ces. Each business is unique, so not all changes we suggest will work in every single environment. However, on refl ection of the positive sustainable impact Zurich is making. Here’s some ideas, Luke believes other businesses could benefi t from:

• Donate any old/un-used offi ce furniture: Whether it’s a desk, lamp or sofa, rather than throwing it into landfi ll, give the furniture to charity - CollectEco will help with redistribute.

Zurich has saved 88,000kg of emissions, opting to donate rather than sending it all to landfi ll. • Reduce your single-use plastic: It’s becoming easier to fi nd alternatives to single-use plastic so take some time to see where changes can be made. Why not, invest in refi llable water bottles for your employees? This purchase will reduce single-use plastic and act as a token of appreciation to staff . • Encourage recycling: Sometimes we have rubbish, and we aren’t sure if it’s recyclable or not? By default, it often ends up in general waste. Have you considered introducing an

‘unknown’ bin into the offi ces? Anything staff are unsure of; we review and make sure it’s disposed of accordingly.

MARCH 2022 • Think before you print: Take a second, before you press the print button to see if you do really need to print or if it could be sent digitally. If you need signatures, why not switch to Docusign? If you can review print volumes to see where changes need to be made. We’ve reduced paper usage by 150 tonnes, just by removing the number of printers in our offi ces. • Invest in a water butt: If you have outdoor space that needs to be watered or offi ce plants, a water butt is a simple solution that’ll help reduce your water intake.

You can fi nd more, visit www.zurichintermediary.co.uk or phone your Zurich consultant on 08085 546 546.

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Zurich Assurance Ltd. Registered in England and Wales under company number 02456671. Registered Offi ce: Unity Place, 1 Carfax Close, Swindon, SN1 1AP.