The UK’s largest general insurance company Aviva is the latest big name to join RE100, showing its commitment to becoming 100% powered by renewable electricity and taking action against climate change.
Like reinsurers Swiss Re, another RE100 corporate partner, Aviva recognizes that climate change is increasing the risk of extreme weather events and, left unchecked, will leave large parts of the economy uninsurable.
Aviva is committed to achieving its RE100 target and is already powered 100% by renewable electricity throughout the UK with ambitions to reach this target in all of its operations worldwide by 2025.
As well as mitigating its own operational impact, Aviva is providing insurance products for low carbon and renewable power installations – its investment into solar PV systems has a generating capacity of 75MW and covers 24,000 properties. The company has recently pledged a further investment of £2.5 billion over the next 5 years in support of driving to a low carbon future.
The multinational business has highlighted the limited availability of renewable electricity in some regions globally as the greatest challenge in achieving its RE100 goal. With joint ventures in both India and China, which account for 55% of Aviva’s total electricity-related carbon emissions, the company seeks to work with others in RE100 to drive a demand for and create investment opportunities for renewable electricity in these regions.
There are now 38 corporate members of RE100: Alstria, Autodesk, Aviva, BT Group, Commerzbank, DSM, Elion Resources Group, Formula E, Givaudan, Goldman Sachs, H&M, IKEA Group, Infosys, J. Safra Sarasin, Johnson & Johnson, Kingspan, KPN, Land Securities, Marks & Spencer, Mars Incorporated, Nestlé, Nike, Inc., Philips, Procter & Gamble, Proximus, RELX Group, Salesforce, SAP, SGS, Starbucks, Steelcase, Swiss RE, UBS, Unilever, Vaisala, Voya Financial, Walmart and YOOX Group.