Meeting Nature’s Challenge

We promote adaptation

IAG believes that climate change is a critical issue and wants New Zealand to focus a lot more on adapting to its inevitable and growing impacts. 

No matter what steps are taken to reduce climate change, we cannot escape its impacts and we all have to start thinking about how we are going to adapt to them.

To help raise awareness and promote action IAG has been asking New Zealanders since 2018 about their attitudes towards climate change, with an increasing focus on how the country should adapt.  In this year’s survey we looked more closely at people’s readiness to adapt and their expectations of government, business and other New Zealanders in helping them to do so.  We also looked at their expectations of the impact that COVID-19 will have.

The survey shows that climate change continues to be an important issue for New Zealanders and that they understand the physical impacts that climate change will bring. A majority of those interviewed think they will be personally impacted and, as a consequence, are taking steps to reduce those impacts.

The findings highlight a sense that the country’s response is improving but also that important gaps remain.  People need better information to make decisions and take personal action.  We know that some land will be lost but don’t know how to retreat from it.  We know investment and support is needed but don’t know how best to pay for it.  And people are uncertain about the role that insurers and banks should have.  These are gaps that IAG is ready to help fill.

Find out more about this year’s results here.

We encourage others

Asia Rattenbury is using her commitment to the environment to help IAG raise awareness and foster climate action amongst her colleagues.

A key pillar in IAG’s Climate Action Plan is ‘preparing our people’. Climate change is everyone’s responsibility, and this pillar is about providing access to tools and initiatives that help us manage our own climate change impacts, as well as provide pathways for us to contribute to the action plan itself.

In December 2019 we recognised that a good place to start was to form a group where everyone who’s passionate about the environment can come to learn, share, discuss and act. And so, the Eco Action Group was formed.

The Eco Action Group is focused on three main streams of work: helping to bringing our IAG Climate Action Plan to life and influencing decisions within the business; working to reduce waste within IAG and our supply chain; and empowering our people to engage with the science behind environmental issues and providing resources to help them take action

Since its launch the Eco Action Group has run speaker events, including most recently during Plastic Free July. They are also working on a couple of pilot initiatives which could lead to real change within the organisation and the supply chain. Although the Group’s activities have been hampered somewhat by Covid-19, they have secured a large and growing membership which sees regular sharing of ideas and discussion about environmental issues.

It’s early days but the group is led by three committed and passionate IAG people who can’t wait to do more and build engagement further. 

We reduce our footprint

Tim Griffith uses his passion for sustainability to help IAG contribute towards lowering New Zealand’s carbon footprint.

His role is about creating environments that reflect who we are as a company. It’s making sure our spaces are safe, resilient, productive and great places to be.

Work environments are continually changing, and COVID-19 has shown us that what we consider to be a work environment is changing too. That requires property teams like ours to adapt quickly and think creatively.

Since 2016 we have been focused on consolidating our property footprint to improve energy efficiency and the quality of our sites for our people. We have reduced our number of sites by 30, including consolidating Auckland locations from nine down to three. This has meant that since 2016 we have reduced our m2 by 26%, reduced property costs significantly and cut our electricity emissions by over 50%. In total, from 2016 to 2020 we saw a reduction of 442 tCO2e from electricity emissions alone.

Beyond emissions reduction and the obvious cost savings, the introduction of flexispace and more strategically located sites meant we saw more efficient use of space, enabled more choice of work styles, enabled greater access to public transport, and improved end of trip facilities.

Our focus remains on improving the energy efficiency of our existing sites, like our 11-year-old 5 Green Star rated NZI Centre in Auckland, as well as looking at changes to our footprint to reflect both changing customer demand and staff working from home preferences.

Tim is proud to be playing a role in bringing IAG’s commitment to sustainability to life.

We bring people together

Bryce Davies is helping to create a strong focus on adaptation in New Zealand’s response to climate change.

Our climate is changing in profound ways, creating both risks and potential rewards for businesses. How businesses adapt to the impacts that climate change is bringing will spell their success or failure.

To highlight the urgent need for action and how to take the first steps, IAG hosted an event in April 2019 that brought together 80 representatives of New Zealand business for a workshop on climate change adaptation.

The event started with IAG climate change spokesperson, Bryce Davies providing some context about the scale of the issue. He spoke about the impacts of our changing climate being unfamiliar, complex, and dynamic, and that they go well beyond the physical into social, cultural, and economic.  He said that these impacts are already happening and are going to get much worse. 

Next, the Minister for Climate Change, Hon. James Shaw, spoke of the effects of climate change not as a future state, but as something clearly affecting us now.  He spoke of the national approach to adaptation and what it means for business.  Commending the Climate Leaders Coalition, he articulated the importance of this group of business leaders.

A panel made up of business leaders from Vector, Westpac and Synlait shared practical solutions and insights on how they’ve lifted their action on climate change adaptation within their organisations.

Rounding off the evening, Craig Olsen, CEO of IAG New Zealand reminded the audience that an urgent and considered response is needed and that it is time to act.