Canada's Greenest Employers (2025) - Flipbook - Page 18
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CANADA'S GREENEST EMPLOYERS (2025)
Key partnerships help produce a greener Aviva Canada
W
hen Rachel
Auwaerter was
earning a
science degree
at Queen’s
University, she took an environmental impact course. “It was
super interesting, and I’ve always
had an interest in animals and
nature, but I never knew what that
would look like as a career,” she
says. Upon graduating in 2022,
Auwaerter found the perfect
position as a sustainability project
coordinator at Markham,
Ont.-based Aviva Canada.
It’s important that insurers
are acting and advocating on
climate change and bringing
others along, because
extreme weather events
are already impacting our
customers in different ways
across our entire business.
that is better prepared for what is
to come.”
The statistics are alarming: in
2024, the Canadian insurance
industry reported $8.5 billion in
losses from extreme weather
events such as fires, floods and
hailstorms. “Globally, Aviva has
always been very involved in our
communities and an early adopter
of climate-positive policies and
actions, but since announcing our
net-zero ambition in 2021, we’re
more focused in our action and
more vocal in this space as an
industry leader, particularly
around adaptation and resilience,”
says Michelle Li, vice president of
claims strategy and shared
services.
In her initial role, Auwaerter
helped organize the company’s
first annual Net Zero Supplier
Summit in 2023. “We told our
suppliers why their emissions
affect our emissions, and that we
know how hard it is for them to do
the science-based work we’re
asking them to do,” she says. At
last year’s summit, suppliers were
starting to set their targets and
collect their carbon inventory.
Aviva Canada hopes to reach an
ambitious goal: to be a net-zero
company by 2040. “We recognized
the need to engage with the
supply chain in a different way,”
says Li. “In order to reach our
targets, we need to bring our
supply chain along with us.”
That means supporting
suppliers, such as auto-body shops
and property-restoration
companies, in understanding what
net zero means and planning how
to get there. It’s working — for
— Michelle Li
Vice President, Claims Strategy &
Shared Services
Aviva Canada is a leading
property and casualty insurance
group, providing home, automobile, lifestyle and business
insurance to 2.5 million customers.
“Our customers are increasingly
experiencing the devastating
impacts of extreme weather events
on their homes, businesses and
communities,” says CEO Tracy
Garrad. “We have a responsibility
to take action, including pursuing
our net-zero targets and advocating for building a resilient Canada
Employees at Aviva Canada plant native species on annual Climate Day.
example, one of the property-restoration companies is transitioning their entire fleet to electric
vehicles (EVs) and have already
vastly reduced emissions as a
result. “Yes, there’s sometimes an
upfront expense, but people
realize the long-term savings and
climate-impact payoff,” says
Auwaerter, now a sustainable
claims program consultant.
In 2024, Aviva Canada rolled out
its Net Zero Supplier Accelerator
program, a six-month, six-module
initiative to help suppliers set
targets and develop action plans.
Since then, almost 40 suppliers
have gone through the program.
“It’s important that insurers are
acting and advocating on climate
change and bringing others along,
because extreme weather events
are already impacting our
