Taking climate action

The first major insurer worldwide to aim for Net Zero carbon by 2040.

Sustainability resources and reporting hub

Our climate ambitions

We’ve been a carbon-neutral organisation since 2006. Now, we’re aiming to become a Net Zero organisation. We’re focused on decarbonising our business, insuring and investing in energy transition, and supporting climate adaptation while protecting and restoring nature.

Our aims:

  • Become a Net Zero company by 2040 1
  • Achieve a 60% reduction in carbon intensity of assets by 2030 1
  • Have Net Zero operations and supply chain by 2030

Our progress

We continue to align our business to the 1.5C target established in the 2015 Paris agreement.

  • The first major insurer worldwide to aim for net zero carbon by 2040. 1
  • The first international composite insurer to have carbon-reduction goals validated by the Science Based Targets initiative. 2

We published our first Climate Transition Plan in March 2022. It outlined our pathway to Net Zero 2040 and provided information on our climate ambitions and how we could address climate risks and opportunities.

We are using the UK’s Transition Plan Taskforce framework to inform the development of our transition plans further. We regularly review our transition activities towards our ambition and expect to publish the latest version of our Transition Plan by 2025. This will consider the latest view of methodology and data quality.

Quantifying the impact of climate change is an emerging practice. We made several methodology improvements in 2023 and will continue to enhance our capabilities in line with industry developments and standards.

While we are working towards our sustainability ambition, we acknowledge that when it comes to decarbonising the economy in which we operate and invest, Aviva is one part of a far larger global ecosystem. There are limits to our ability to influence other organisations and governments. Nevertheless, we remain focused on the task and are committed to playing our part in the collective effort to enable the global transition.

2023 UK highlights

50%

Operational carbon emissions3 reduction since 2019.

35%

of suppliers by spend signed up to science-based targets

57%

Reduction in the Scope 1 and Scope 2 weighted average carbon intensity of our credit and equity investments for shareholder and with-profit funds since 2019.*

*UK, Ireland and Canada only

£1.7 billion

of financing provided for renewable energy infrastructure projects from 2020 to 2023

Climate-Ready Index

We want to help the countries we operate in – the UK, Ireland and Canada – become climate ready. So, in 2024 we launched our third Climate-Ready Index. The index measures the G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States) and Ireland because these are some of the richest and most influential in the world, so have a responsibility to lead the way.

The third Climate-Ready Index indicates that:

  • The transition to a more climate-ready world is underway across the G7 and Ireland – all countries bar Canada have improved on their overall scores in 2024.
  • Businesses are taking more climate-ready actions than they were 12 months ago.
  • People are taking simple everyday climate-friendly actions but need support to make bigger lifestyle changes.

Overall progress across the Index is encouraging, but there is still more to do – countries need to go further and faster to ensure they are reducing their emissions in line with the 1.5 degrees Paris Agreement and taking action to adapt to already very visible climate change impacts.

Discover our Climate-Ready Index

Climate change and biodiversity loss represent the most severe risks facing our planet today. As a major investor and insurer, we can help to enable the transition to a low-carbon and nature positive future.

Leah Ramoutar, Director of Environmental Sustainability

Image of Leah Ramoutar, Director of Environmental Sustainability

Climate strategy in action

Changing our world for the better takes action. See how we are implementing our sustainability strategy. Click through the sections below to explore how we're helping to create a better tomorrow, today.

  • Taking action with partners

    We partner with experts to extend our climate and social impact. Together we're stronger.

  • Sustainability news

    We're continually releasing news about our sustainability ambition in action.​

1 This will cover shareholder and policyholder assets where we have control and data; and the main asset classes of Aviva’s core markets (credit, equities, direct real estate and sovereign debt). We will be able to expand this further as new data and methodologies become available. For more details please see www.aviva.com/climate-ambitions

2 The SBTi Net-Zero Standard defines corporate Net Zero as: (i) Reducing Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions to zero or to a residual level that is consistent with reaching Net Zero emissions at the global or sector level in eligible 1.5°C-aligned pathways; (ii) Neutralising any residual emissions at the Net Zero target year and any GHG emissions released into the atmosphere thereafter. See Science Based Targets that Aviva has committed to https://sciencebasedtargets.org/resources/files/Target-language-and-summary_Aviva-plc.docx.pdf

3 Percentage reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 Aviva operational CO2e emissions against 2019 baseline