We are well aware of the value of working with other like-minded organisations to help promote CSR worldwide and to develop our own understanding and agenda within Aviva.

We have numerous partnerships with non-governmental organisations and we participate in both financial services and cross-sector forums to help meet the environmental and societal challenges facing businesses both now and in the years ahead.

View our external engagements section on our CSR site for full details of our involvements. Below are some of our primary activities, both in the UK and globally.

We help to drive UK initiatives in our sector

Aviva has been a member of the FORGE group of UK-based banks and insurers since its inception in 1998. The group has completed a number of CSR projects including: environmental and CSR management and reporting guidelines; key CSR performance indicators; and the social, environmental and ethical information that companies must include in their annual report and accounts, in line with the EU Modernisation Directive. The FORGE group is currently working on a project focused on developing a guidance framework on climate change that can be used by corporate functions in the financial sector.

We are also a member of the Association of British Insurers and sit on several of its working groups. One of the working groups is currently developing Climate Change Insurance Principles. The scope of the principles will include general insurance, life and pensions and asset management.

We are active in cross-sector partnerships worldwide

Aviva’s Chair in Leadership and Responsibility at INSEAD, established in 2004, aims to help develop knowledge on issues of relevance to both society and Aviva. In partnership with our chaired professor, Aviva and INSEAD are also participating in the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative, which brings together businesses, business schools and learning institutions from around the world to promote understanding of what constitutes globally responsible leadership and to develop its practice.

Aviva’s chief executive, Richard Harvey, is a member of the CBI’s climate change task force, which brings together the chairmen and chief executives of some of the UK’s biggest companies. The task force has been established to set the agenda on how business tackles climate change. It will produce a report later this year with wide-ranging recommendations for action to the UK Government, individual businesses and the CBI itself.

We continue to support the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative and are represented on numerous working groups, including those on climate change, asset management and general insurance.

Aviva continues to support the principles of the United Nations Global Compact, which seek to promote responsible business practice under four key themes: human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. Our policies on standards of business conduct, environment, human rights and diversity, as well as our spread of human resources policies, help us to meet the requirements of the Global Compact principles.

As a business-led initiative, Global Compact provides a useful international platform for small and large businesses to help effect change in some of the most pressing issues facing society today. We are a member of the Global Compact UK Network. This network allows member companies to share best practice, access peer reviews on how members are progressing against the principles of the Global Compact and help raise awareness of the principles among the broader business community. Aviva’s subsidiaries have also found local Global Compact networks to be a useful forum. For example, we are represented in the Lithuanian and Turkish networks.

There is more detail on how our CSR programme is working to meet the principles of the Global Compact in our communication on progress.