Aviva Canada launches new program to tackle supply chain emissions

February 12, 2024 (Toronto, ON) – Aviva Canada today announced the launch of its Net-Zero Supplier Accelerator program after a successful pilot with a small group of its suppliers. The Accelerator program, aligned with the Science Based Targets initiative (STBi)’s standards, supports suppliers in setting targets that uphold the Paris Agreement’s aim to limit global temperature rise to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

Through this program, Aviva aims to bring its suppliers along on its own net-zero journey by prioritizing engagement and collaboration to understand their challenges and provide access to support and tools to meet those needs. Having achieved validation of its own targets by SBTi in 2022, Aviva is able to leverage its own experience in the setting of science-based targets to share lessons-learned with suppliers navigating the transition to net zero. 

“The road to net zero is not one that any company can walk alone,” says Michelle Li, VP Corporate Planning, Performance and Business Partnering, Aviva Canada. “Understanding our collective impact is a critical first step - you cannot reduce what you cannot measure. Aviva’s Accelerator program supports our suppliers with free access to training, education, and resources such as carbon calculators so that they are set up to report data aligned to an internationally recognized standard of disclosure, ahead of mandatory requirements. But perhaps more importantly, they are able to use that data to create an actionable plan based on real figures, not just estimates".   

In an industry that is already feeling the impacts of climate change, the Accelerator program advances Aviva Canada’s work towards its global target of a net zero supply chain by 2030 – a key milestone on its path to becoming a net zero company by 2040. 

“The Net -Zero Supplier Accelerator program has really advanced our knowledge on sustainability through appropriate examples and resources,” says Sundus Abu Zahra, ESG & Sustainability Lead Specialist from ICS Courier, a transportation and logistics company in Canada and a supplier to Aviva Canada. “Rather than the typical request to just reduce and estimate our emissions for reporting, Aviva provided us with an action-based program rooted in real data and the support needed to implement it. It has opened up conversations within our organization on strategies for calculating and reducing our emissions, including the potential impacts on our business.”

“As a multi-national company, gathering standardized data from our franchises and implementing sustainable changes to our business has been difficult,” says Shawn Tracey, Regional Vice President, Central Canada from WINMAR® (Canada) International, Ltd, Property Restoration Specialists. “The Net-Zero Supplier Accelerator program has been a valuable resource for us to not only learn best practices in data collection and reporting, but also for us to speak with other restoration companies and work together as an industry to find solutions to our collective challenges.”

Aviva will host its second annual Net-Zero Supplier Summit in April 2024, providing another platform for suppliers to come together to share best practices. On February 14, Aviva’s Li will be discussing the Accelerator program in depth with Rahul Chandran, Managing Director, Upswing Solutions and Leor Rotchild, Senior Director, Upswing Solutions during a fireside chat at the Tap & Barrel Convention Centre (the Barrel Room) in Vancouver to coincide with the GLOBE Forum 2024. 

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