Hastings has published its first Sustainability Report outlining the progress made on the company’s ESG (Environment, social and governance) strategy and the £10s of millions invested in support measures and actions for colleagues, customers, and community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Working towards a sustainable future, Hastings’ ESG strategy is underpinned by doing the right thing for colleagues, customers, company, and community through four areas of focus. This approach to managing ESG factors is key to ensuring the sustainability of Hastings and tackling the challenges of today, including social inequality and climate change.
Highlights from the Sustainability Report 2020 include:
- Being certified 100% Carbon Neutral in 2020 and committing to reduce our carbon footprint by 50% from our 2019 baseline by the end of 2022.
- Supporting two emission reduction projects, contributing to 15 of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
- Embedding our commitment to Diversity and Inclusion with the creation of a dedicated Diversity and Inclusion leadership role and the introduction of a colleague led Inclusion council.
- Being recognised as one of the Top 50 Most Inclusive Companies in the UK.
- Providing over £250,000 of financial support to local charities.
- Working with suppliers and partners to drive high standards across our supply chain by assessing key ESG factors, including human rights policies.
- A commitment to investing responsibly by establishing an investment framework that incorporates ESG considerations into investment decisions and not investing in excluded or sensitive sectors.
The report also details the substantial COVID-19 package of support delivered by Hastings in 2020. Actions included free breakdown cover and extra claims support for NHS and frontline healthcare workers, extra support including payment holidays for vulnerable customers and premium refunds. For Hastings’ colleagues, over 90 financial donations were made via a colleague hardship fund, established to support colleagues and their families financially impacted by the pandemic and additionally, an extraordinary ‘thank you’ midyear bonus to a large proportion of colleagues. Along with the COVID-19 Community Grant Scheme, these investments have amounted to tens of millions of pounds in need of financial support at this time.
Toby van der Meer, Hastings CEO said, “It’s been an exceptional year in which the Hastings team has achieved an incredible amount, despite the global pandemic. In addition to continued business and customer progress and growth, we continue to make great progress on our ESG strategy, including becoming a Carbon Neutral organisation in 2020, as well as the ongoing focus we have on embedding our 4Cs philosophy, by doing the right thing in a balanced way for colleagues, customers, company and community. Progress on diversity and inclusion has also been positive, including being recognised as one of the Top 50 Most Inclusive Companies in the UK.”
Click here to view the report on the Hastings Group website.