Our Stakeholders

Engaging with stakeholders

We work with our partners and peers to share best practice and help us and the industry achieve our sustainability goals.

During 2008 we participated in the following initiatives:

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) ClimateWise Initiative. A group of insurers committed to tackling and raising awareness of climate change;
The ABI’s Access to Insurance Working Group that aims to improve access to insurance products for socially and economically excluded communities and individuals;
The Climate Group’s ‘We’re in This Together’ campaign providing practical ideas for individuals to reduce their CO2 footprint;
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply’s Financial Services Purchasing Forum CR working group, which works on managing social, ethical and environmental issues in the supply chain;
The United Nations Global Compact, a voluntary initiative committing us to comply with ten principles on human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption.
The United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI) Insurance Working Group, working to develop sustainable underwriting principles and new approaches to microinsurance.

We also engage directly with stakeholders including customers, communities, employees, investors and shareholders, NGOs and regulators on corporate responsibility issues. The table here describes some of this activity during 2008:

Stakeholder	Examples of engagement
Customers	We hold regular consumer focus groupsand conduct surveys to record feedback on our products and services and identify where we can improve. See Customers.
Communities	Local employee charitable committees consult with communities to help choose what projects to support. See Communities.
Employees	Informal World Cafes bring employees together to discuss matters that impact the business, including CR related issues. In 2008, we produced our first annual CR review for employees to raise awareness of our activities and performance. We organised brand activation workshops for all employees following the launch of our new brand and Brand Beliefs. See Employees.
Investors & Shareholders	In 2008, we met with our largest institutional investors to discuss progress on our CR iniatives. We also produced a summary CR report aimed specifically at shareholders. See Governance.
NGOs	We worked with sustainability NGOs including Forum for the Future to review our CR strategy and performance as well as a range og NGOs in the countries where we operate. See Material issues and Communities.
Regulators	We participated in UK government consulations on flood defence spending, improved building regulations and tougher standards for climate change. See Public Policy.