Introducing our partnership with WWF

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Transcript 

This is the story of a flower

and a bee.

 

It began a long, long time ago

when these two wonders of nature

first teamed up to achieve something

that was almost impossible alone.

Enticed by the sweet smell

of the flowers nectar.

The hungry bee dived in

and in return for the feast,

carried pollen onto plants

far, far beyond the flowers reach.

The flowers were pollinated

and the hive was fed.

It's in this spirit that

WWF and Aviva join forces today,

working in harmony to help tackle

one of the greatest challenges

the planet and all life on it

has ever faced,

 

Climate change.

 

WWF’s world leading expertise on nature

loss and climate change and Aviva's extensive reach

striving to make our financial system

sit up and take notice.

 

Working together in the UK to build

healthier, more resilient communities, restoring landscapes

and aiming to shift the finance sector to net zero.

 

Shaping this future is not

an individual effort.

 

It takes partnerships.

 

It takes Aviva and WWF.

 

A natural partnership.

Getting climate ready means people, businesses and communities are preparing to overcome the impact of more extreme weather, at the same time as cutting our carbon footprints.

Cracking the challenge of climate change will take acting in partnership with others to find the answers that all of us, and the planet, depend on.

A natural partnership

Aviva sees the devasting effects that extreme weather has on our customers and communities. And we’re living up to our responsibility to act. We’re helping customers take smart choices towards a more sustainable future. We’re working to make people and businesses more resilient to bad weather. We’re exerting our influence on the financial system so it can deliver a low-carbon and nature positive future.

WWF are the world’s leading global environmental charity, working towards a future where people and nature thrive together. They recognise that the finance sector is the key to unlocking the private funding needed to tackle the climate crisis and build healthier more resilient ecosystems. They also understand the importance of positive change from governments and international organisations to lead the move to a sustainable economy.

WWF brings expertise in climate action and an enormous network of influence. Aviva offers a connection to our customers and the credibility and reach to lead the way in financial services. Together, our organisations can create a formidable force for change.

Our ambition

With this 3-year partnership, Aviva becomes WWF’s lead partner in the insurance and pensions sector. Our partnership is making a difference in three areas:

We believe protecting nature and restoring biodiversity are inextricably linked to reducing climate change and helping deal with its impacts. During our partnership we’re developing projects that work with nature to help reduce the effects of extreme weather, particularly flooding, on communities in the UK and Canada. 

We want to engage our colleagues and consumers across the UK and Canada to better understand more widely the power of their individual choices, actions and financial decisions, helping protect our planet and where people and nature thrive together.

Financial institutions have a vital role to play in the transition to a sustainable future, and together with WWF, we are striving for a transformational shift in the sector to help slow climate change – a shift without which the UK will not be able to meet its net zero target. We will also make joint calls on the UK government to ensure they deliver on their climate and nature commitments and push for even greater and faster ambition.

From ambition to action

We’re making good progress, taking action across all three areas of our work. Here are some examples of the activity underway.

The difference we're making together

Our annual partnership report

Discover some of the key impacts our partnership has achieved in its second year, from July 2022 until June 2023.

From legislative progress to making a real difference in communities – we also share some valuable experiences along the way.

Download the report

Encouraging action by engaging people

Supporting local communities to take action for nature

Our £1 million Save Our Wild Isles Community Fund, in partnership with WWF and the RSPB, has helped over 250 community groups across the UK to protect and restore nature in their local area.

Find out more

Building climate resilient communities and restoring nature

Wild Ingleborough (UK)

Restoring peatlands, woodland and heathland as part of the Wild Ingleborough project in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

Photography credit: Andrew Parkinson / WWF-UK

Find out more

East Anglia (UK)

Restoring the natural flow of rivers in East Anglia to reduce flooding within a number of catchments through natural flood management, building physical and community resilience in this unique, largely agricultral landscape.

Photography credit: Joseph Gray / WWF-UK

Find out more

River Soar (UK)

Restoring the natural flow of rivers in the East Midlands. Funding innovative natural flood-management inititives that will create multiple benefits for nature, while building greater climate resilience within the wider community.

Watch our video on how we're bringing this to life. 

Photography credit: Jiri Rezac / WWF-UK

Find out more

Firth of Forth (UK)

Restoring seagrass meadows and native oyster beds in the Firth of Forth in Scotland. Raising awareness of the benefits of marine restoration and reinvigorating the heritage of coastal communities.

Photography credit: Steve Morgan / WWF-UK

Find out more

Saltmarsh research project Lancashire (UK)

This research - carried out in partnership with WWF, and in collaboration with the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) - represents a significant step in addressing critical knowledge gaps in saltmarsh management. The project will also monitor the role these important habitats can play in fighting climate change and removing carbon emissions from the atmosphere. 

Find out more

Nature and Climate Grant Programme (Canada)

Aviva Canada is the presenting partner of WWF-Canada’s Nature and Climate Grant Program. Helping communities and indigenous organisations restore degraded lands to improve habitat for biodiversity and carbon capture, to help wildlife thrive and fight climate change at the same time. 

Photography credit: Emily Vandermeer / WWF-UK

Find out more

Transforming the finance sector by advocating for change

Thought leadership

We’ve engaged with an influential audience of finance industry and policy stakeholders in our shared vision for the finance sector, contributing to and shaping the debate with collaborative reports.

Read more here

Leading the financial sector fight against climate change

Aviva Group CEO Amanda Blanc and Tanya Steele, CEO, WWF-UK talk about our exciting charity partnership in this short film.

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Transcript  for video Leading the financial sector fight against climate change

Amanda Blanc, Aviva Group CEO:

We’re living in the midst of a climate emergency and as the UK’s leading insurer, we’ve got a big responsibility to do something about that Aviva has already set out our stall with our ambition to be Net Zero by 2040.

At the same time, we want to help our customers and communities to do more.

We want to help them be more resilient to extreme weather and understand what actions they can take personally to build a more sustainable future.

So, I’m totally delighted we have a new partner in the WWF.

They’re the world’s leading conservation organisation with fantastic expertise and an enormous network and influence in the area of climate action.

I’m really excited about what we’ll be able to achieve together.

Tanya Steele, Chief Executive WWF-UK:

At the heart of our mission is the dual challenge of tackling climate change, but also restoring our natural world.

Without it we won't have a stable planet which is the one place that we can all call home.

And whilst WWF were famous for working to save really iconic species, we know that at the heart of this crisis are a series of drivers that are driving the destruction of our planet, and finance plays an incredibly important role.

If we can ensure that finance is driving sustainability and is enabling our planet to be in balance, then we know we would have delivered real change.

Amanda Blanc, Aviva Group CEO:

We help people at all stages of their life.

From insuring their first home to helping them save for their retirement and we see the direct impact of floods or storms on people’s lives and livelihoods

That gives us a real understanding of how important it is to do something about it.

On top of that we’ve been working to make the global economy more sustainable for decades.

We’ve got the credibility and the influence to lead the way in financial services

And help the whole industry do more to contribute to a low-carbon future

Tanya Steele, Chief Executive WWF-UK:

WWF is really proud to be working with Aviva as a leader on sustainability in the finance sector acting on climate change.

And is the first major insurer worldwide to target Net Zero by 2040.

We know that Aviva is committed to reaching the Paris goals of 1.5 degrees to limit a warming world, and we need the whole of the finance sector to follow.

We know the strength that can come from lots of people acting together with a shared goal.

They will also act as a sort of critical friend on our work and ensure we are taking the right approach to the systemic challenge.

There’ll be lots of opportunities for our people to get involved so, I’d urge everyone to look out for what they can do to take part.

The science is telling us that we have less than a decade to change both the way we live, but also be on a path to recovery and start to restore our natural world.

It's great to be with Aviva on this journey.

Working towards a better tomorrow

Our sustainabilty ambition

On the path to a more climate-ready world

Our climate-ready index