AIICO Insurance Plc has reiterated its commitment to sustaining the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) adoption of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
AIICO, one of Nigeria’s leading insurance companies and a good corporate entity, said the ESG is a framework used to assess various sustainability and ethical issues.
The firm explained that while environmental focuses on a company’s impact on the planet including how businesses manage energy use, waste, pollution and compliance with environmental regulations; social refers to a company’s relationship with employees, suppliers, customers and communities including issues like human rights, diversity, equity and employee safety. Governance concerns leadership, executive pay, audits, internal controls, shareholder rights and strong governance that ensure a company operates ethically and transparently.
On the other hand, SGDs are a set of 17 global goals established by the United Nations in 2015, designed to address pressing global challenges by 2030.
These goals cover a wide range of areas, including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice.
They are part of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and provide a blueprint for achieving a better and more sustainable future for all.
Mrs Abimbola Shobanjo, Head, Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability, in her presentation recently at a one-day training workshop organised by the underwriting firm for members of the Nigerian Association of Insurance and Pension Editors (NAIPE), in Lagos, highlighted the company’s commitment to ESG and contribution to SDGs.
Mrs Shobanjo said AIICO has introduced climate-smart initiatives, green office practices and sustainable resource management, such as calculating baseline emissions, reducing paper consumption as well as adopting hybrid work arrangements aimed at protecting the environment.
She said on the social sphere, the company is ensuring diversity and inclusion focus, taking into cognisance employee engagement and gender diversity and fostering a supportive work culture.
Mrs Shobanjo stated that the company’s upcoming employee engagement survey will include a diversity and inclusion section, community programmes and outreach (CSR initiatives like health, education, financial inclusion).
She restated that on governance, the company is commitment to ethical business practices and transparency, strong leadership and internal governance frameworks with regular audits and compliance checks, complying with local and global regulations.
According to her, the insurer is contributing to SDGs through its various initiatives namely: Pink by AIICO, ActionAid Nigeria, AIICO Revive, AIICO Blood Drive, World Malaria Day, Health & Safety at AIICO, Global Money Week, Girls in Tech, Academic Support, School Children Outreach Programmes.
She mentioned others to include, AIICO Graduate Trainee Programme, Diversity and Inclusion, International Women’s Day, Tree Planting, Agric Support, AIICO Farming Club, Work from Home (WFH) and Centralised Printing.
She said the company’s upcoming programmes include “strengthening environmental programmes (more climate action – GHG emission calculations, waste reduction – process digitalisation, recycling); expanding social impact programmess (community outreach, employee well-being); enhancing corporate governance (more training for leadership, continuous assessment and improvement on internal controls) and ESG integration (ESG integration into business operations – ISO 26000 SRMS).”
Mrs Shobanjo listed three key areas that ESG matters, including Investor interest, long-term business value and regulatory pressure.
Explaining investor interest, she said increasingly, investors prioritise companies that show a strong commitment to ESG as they tend to be more sustainable and lower risk, while long-term business value is ESG-driven companies build trust, loyalty and resilience against social and environmental risks.
Regulatory pressure, she added entails international standards like the UN SDGs, UNEP Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI) and the UN Global Compact are driving companies to take action.
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