Climate awareness may not be the first thing you think of when you think about insurance companies. But if you consider the impact that flooding, forest fires, and other climate disasters can have on such a business, the fact that Zurich Insurance is leading the way in the climate crisis begins to make more sense.
Zurich is hosting the first ever Youth Against Carbon Conference on Tuesday 13th October 2020.
“Carbon reduction is hugely important for us,” says Laura McAlpine, head of public affairs and sustainability at Zurich. She can’t help the passion from showing in her voice. “I work with a lot of people who are absolutely passionate about this,” she continues.
Having halved their carbon emissions per employee in just nine years, it does seem that Zurich is well on track to becoming one of Europe’s most successful agents of change when it comes to the climate crisis.
And when you really think about it, an insurance company of its size is the perfect entity to take on the role of creating change.
Fighting the climate crisis
Zurich are actively disengaging with companies that continue to rely on fossil fuels. They support the companies they work with to make changes, giving them a two year transition period. But they also want to engage with the public.
Because of Covid-19, the UN Climate Change Conference, 2020 was cancelled. And Zurich’s in-house research showed that many members of the public are afraid that climate change will be forgotten.
So the company turned its attention to young people, knowing they will be the ones facing the worst effects of climate change. “We need to be inspiring young people and giving them a voice now,” says Laura.
You can check out the conference on Instagram. But don’t wait that long. Tomorrow we meet some of the young people taking action against climate change.