“Leaning in” and leveraging the NED long lens: Aviva
Sitting at the centre of the economic system, financial institutions play a critical role in helping businesses and households manage risks and capture opportunities associated with extreme weather and the transition to a low-emissions, climate-resilient future.
Aviva plc is a UK-headquartered diversified insurance provider, focusing on general and life insurance, wealth and retirement solutions and asset management in the UK, Ireland and Canada. A member of the FTSE 100 index, Aviva has grown both organically and through acquisition.
Aviva’s high-level climate ambition is to achieve net zero by 2040, a commitment first announced in 2021 and still seen as core to the company’s strategy. Since then, Aviva has developed its approach through formal transition planning, publishing its first transition plan in 2022 and a second in 2025. Aviva has also increasingly taken an integrated approach to transition planning that also includes strategic consideration of nature, adaptation and Just Transition issues.
Aviva’s board plays a key role in setting and overseeing the company’s climate and sustainability strategy, identifying the following key focus areas as crucial for a successful board-led approach to climate policy engagement.
This case study was informed by Shonaid Jemmett-Page, Independent Non-Executive Director at Aviva plc, and Claudine Blamey, Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO), Aviva plc. Chapter Zero thanks both Shonaid and Claudine for sharing their insights.
Key takeaways for boards on how to support responsible policy engagement
- Use the wider NED perspective to see opportunities beyond the company and challenge engagement priorities.
- Support an evidence-based approach to policy engagement and encourage thought leadership as a bedrock for building trust.
- Establish a governance culture of challenge and empowerment.
- Get started, learn as a board and evolve the approach.
- Encourage engagement via multiple channels and use the board voice to champion change where possible.
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“Leaning in” and leveraging the NED long lens: Aviva policy engagement case study
Our nature is always to lean in. And we lean in because we really believe in our ambition. Influencing and guiding policy will help us achieve not only our net zero ambitions, but also our broader sustainability and business ambitions. They’re all linked together. It’s not for boards to sit back and wait for policy and hope it goes in the right direction because it won’t. It often doesn’t or nothing happens.”Shonaid Jemmett-Page, NED, Aviva
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