ethical junction

The Green Insurance Company

Ethical Policy

The Green Insurance Company is committed to a policy of Reduce, Recycle and Reuse. This will be evident across all aspects of our business and rather than seeing it as commercial burden, we will ensure that we make it as easy as possible to do these things. Where we are unable to reduce or switch to a carbon neutral alternative, we will fully offset the carbon dioxide emissions of our business. For customers who choose to insure with us, we wish to provide a product that makes it easy for them to be green. Every aspect of the service that we offer from �cradle to grave� needs to be tested for its environmental impact. We will do this so that our customers don�t need to worry about it and can have the confidence that they are making a sound purchasing decision. The carbon emissions of all cars covered by The Green Insurance Company will be fully offset. That is, the carbon dioxide of our customer�s vehicles will be calculated based on their vehicle and annual mileage and we will invest in new tree planting schemes within the UK that will absorb (sequester) this carbon dioxide over its lifetime. The forestry project will be subject to �additionality� that is, the project would not be financially viable without monies from carbon offsetting. The project will also be subject to rigid audit to ensure that the project has delivered on its contractual commitments and that the new forest is being properly managed. The forest will have full access rights and our customers are free to visit it, if they wish. Our initial project will be based at Lawel Hill farm in Inverurie, Aberdeenshire where over 120,000 new trees will be planted. We believe that offsetting car emissions is just a beginning, and we will encourage our customers to do as much as they can to reduce their impact on the environment. Through our ongoing communications with customers, we will encourage them to identify other ways that they can reduce their carbon footprint. This will be supported by our website, www.greeninsurancecompany.co.uk to provide information and ideas on how to live a greener life. The website will also host information about environmental issues, explaining the effects of environmental change and why we should be reducing our impact. The Green Insurance Company will be very active in educating our employees about environmental issues and what they can do to reduce their impact, both corporately and personally. Over a 6-week training course, 1 whole week has been dedicated to this alone. We will have a formal programme of environmental education and awareness which all employees will take part in. This will consist of training in the classroom, as well as off-site visits to reinforce their learning such as wind farms, land fill sites, recycling plants etc. The final component of our training programme is educating our people on �greener working� through being energy efficient in the workplace and reducing, re-using and recycling as much waste as possible. The Green Insurance Company will give preference to green suppliers over non-environmentally minded companies. We will not deal with any organisation who have a poor environmental track record or have no concern whatsoever for environmental issues. Each prospective supplier will be asked to fill out an environmental fact find that will allow us to make a decision on their suitability. While we do not have control of the investment activities of our suppliers, we will attempt to establish that investments are being made in a sound and ethical manner. Investments involved in arms companies or military science. The companies we use will ideally meet the ISO 14001 standard for environmental management. All stationery will made from recycled materials and our recycled paper will meet Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or similar standards.