Help with achieving your sustainability goals

The Aviva Sustainable Business Coach

A digital coaching tool to help you understand and achieve your sustainability goals.

Sustainability and ESG: What’s the difference?

The terms sustainability and ESG are often used interchangeably but, despite having some similarities, they mean different things.

Corporate sustainability is about companies behaving ethically, responsibly, and in a way that helps the communities they work in. It includes issues such as making work conditions better, cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions, taking care of the environment and supporting human rights.

ESG, on the other hand, is the term typically used in an investment context to describe these non-financial aspects of a company’s performance that are key contributors to its bottom line:

• Environmental - This concerns interaction with the physical environment, such as climate change, biodiversity, natural resources, carbon emissions and air and water.
• Social - This looks at the impact on society and communities, including human rights, health and safety issues, labour standards, product liability and privacy and data.
• Governance - This focuses on how companies are governed, including diversity, transparency, ownership, board independence and ethics.

So, while ESG and sustainability both address environmental, social, and governance aspects, ESG primarily assesses a company's performance by these criteria, whereas sustainability represents a more comprehensive approach that embraces ethical and responsible business practices holistically.

How to make your company fit for the future

Today, many companies are used to meeting stakeholder demands. However, ESG has raised the bar by requiring more emphasis on internal policies, workplace culture and customer feedback. In the years ahead, ESG will bring new challenges and opportunities to all industries. According to Aviva’s 2023 Risk Insights Report, the overwhelming majority of businesses that have undertaken ESG-related activities have seen a positive impact. Such activities include focus on Diversity & Inclusion policies, Health & Safety, community work and improving waste management.

Fortunately, Aviva's Sustainable Business Coach can help you make those steps. The tool is based on a well-recognised sustainability framework known as the Future-Fit Business Benchmark. It's designed to help you begin your sustainability journey or assess your current progress. Engaging with the Sustainable Business Coach can enhance your understanding of your business's current status and guide you in your next steps.

Taking part in the coach’s 30-minute survey can help you understand:

• Which sustainability issues are most relevant to your business
• What your score is and where you are currently having the most impact
• What you need to do next to improve
  
  

Following the launch of the Sustainable Business Coach to all Aviva brokers in September, we’re thrilled that brokers are beginning to use the tool.

Congratulations to Adler Fairways Brokerage for achieving the highest score to date of 77%! This is a great reflection of their sustainability journey.

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