Insurance Times Awards 2024: Axa UK and Ireland aims to showcase sustainability benefits to the industry

1. Why did you put yourselves forward for the Sustainability Initiative of the Year category?

The challenge of producing a meaningful visualisation of Axa UK and Ireland’s carbon emissions arising from the use of its corporate IT infrastructure has proved to be complex, challenging and seemingly without precedent. 

Having now established a unique and viable model of emissions for a target scope of IT estate, we aim to showcase the art of the possible amongst our industry peers by entering this award. 

This will hopefully inspire others to launch similar initiatives so that collectively we can begin to tackle emissions hotspots from respective use of IT infrastructure.

2. What do you think makes your entry stand out and why should you win the award?

In relation to identifying, measuring and tackling emissions from the use of IT infrastructure, the picture is the same today as when the brief was set in 2022.

There are few exemplary companies, useful guidelines, models or frameworks founded on robust scoping, tangible data and research-backed assumptions, to draw inspiration from. 

With the expert help of Cognizant, we have shown that it is possible to deliver on the concept of creating a founding model that identifies and quantifies greenhouse gas emissions arising from the use of corporate IT infrastructure. This is seemingly unique.

3. What would winning this award mean to you and your firm?

Winning this award in 2024 would showcase to industry peers, whether in the UK, Ireland or further afield, what is possible and the value of developing a first picture and understanding of carbon emissions arising from the use of complex IT infrastructure. 

Armed with new understandings revealed by the model developed, the IT teams at Axa UK and Ireland are now enabled to visualise and begin to meaningfully target and tackle the expanding problem of IT-originated carbon emissions. 

This aligns perfectly with Axa’s stated ambition “to become a sustainable tech-led company”.