Global insurance provider Zurich Insurance Group announced today a new initiative aimed at decarbonizing its supply chain, by providing suppliers with tools and resources to help measure address their own carbon emissions.

The new initiative follows the announcement last year by Zurich of a goal for suppliers responsible for 75% of its roughly $2 billion of procurement spend to have science-based emissions reduction targets by 2025 and net-zero targets by 2030, alongside an acceleration of Zurich’s own operational net zero target to 2030 from its prior 2050 goal.

In order to help suppliers calculate their own carbon footprints, and determine steps to take towards achieving net zero, Zurich said that it will provide suppliers with climate training materials, and that it has teamed up with carbon accounting firm Normative to offer free access to its Business Carbon Calculator.

Launched last year, Normative’s Business Carbon calculator is optimized for small businesses. The calculator estimates the carbon footprint of businesses’ direct and indirect emissions, and provides data visualizations enabling businesses to point out emissions hotspots and identify focus areas for action.

Normative CEO Kristian Rönn, said:

“The first step to reducing emissions is calculating them. By providing access to the Business Carbon Calculator, Zurich is empowering its suppliers –especially SMEs – to accelerate the transition to more sustainable business practices.”

The announcement marks the latest in a series of moves by Zurich targeting its Scope 3 value chain emissions, or those outside of its direct control. The company has pledged to achieve net zero in its investment portfolio by 2050, and in March 2021 introduced plans to reduce the carbon intensity of its listed equity and bond investments by 25% by 2025 and 30% for direct real estate investments, and set goals for portfolio companies to set Paris-aligned emission reduction targets. In September 2021, Zurich announced measures including significant cuts to air travel and eliminating internal combustion vehicles from its fleet.

Linda Freiner, Group Head of Sustainability, said:

“This initiative demonstrates Zurich’s commitment to emissions reduction throughout the value chain and illustrates how we use our expertise and resources to support others to transition to the net-zero economy.”

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