As the winner of last year’s Sustainable Business of the Year Award at the Media Isle of Man Awards for Excellence, Zurich is the ideal choice to sponsor this category in 2024.

The award celebrates companies that go above and beyond to embed sustainability at the heart of their vision and values.

This is certainly true of Zurich Insurance Group which back in 2019 became  the first insurer in the world to sign up to the UN’s 1.5 Celsius Business Ambition.

Today, it’s a leader in business sustainability globally, and locally here on the island.

‘We’re really looking forward to seeing the award entries and the innovative ideas businesses have created to help them on their net-zero journey,’ says Bruce Pearson, chief executive officer, Zurich International Life Ltd.

‘As a business which has made very good progress to reduce our carbon footprint, we’re proud of what we have achieved so far.

‘But there’s much more work to be done as we head towards our own 2030 net-zero targets, and in doing so make a contribution to help the island achieve its goals too.

‘This means that we’re always keen to listen and learn from other businesses and share the knowledge we have gained. This aspect of the Awards For Excellence as a platform to celebrate and share great ideas is one of many reasons we’re delighted to be involved.’

As the Employer of the Year in 2022, and Sustainable Business of the Year winner in 2023, the Zurich team here on the island are well aware of the positive impact these achievements have in terms of generating interest in what the business is doing, especially regarding sustainability.

Mark Cady chief operating officer, Zurich International Life Ltd says: ‘We have shared our experience and knowledge with a number of island businesses to help them make decisions about renewable energy investment and policies to reduce their carbon footprint.

‘But, at the same time, the awards are also a great networking opportunity which has connected us with other businesses that we can learn from too.’

The centrepiece of Zurich’s Sustainability of the Year Award entry last year was the company’s self-funded, solar array built on the roof of a car park next to the company’s office at Isle of Man Business Park.

In its first year of operation it provided nearly half of the electricity used at Zurich House, and there are plans in the pipeline to explore battery storage and invest more in smart technology to improve efficiency throughout the office building.

These are big changes, but many small changes have been made as well to reduce water, electricity, paper and plastic usage.

‘Our approach to sustainability,’ says Mark, ‘is to take a holistic view which covers three key areas: reducing consumption of energy and raw materials; increasing the proportion of renewable energy we use; and increasing the recycling of materials that we do use.’

The success of the solar array was a major factor in Zurich winning the UNESCO Biosphere Isle of Man ‘Energy’ category award in 2022 and 2023.

However, says Mark, Zurich’s experience on its journey to net-zero shows that small, smart, inexpensive ‘marginal gains’ are just as important as major investments in infrastructure.

‘We’re particularly interested to find out what small businesses entering the awards this year have done.

‘Companies that may not have big budgets to invest in renewable energy infrastructure can often create brilliant ideas because they have to think differently about how to reduce their carbon footprint.

‘Simple changes which reduce electricity consumption by a fraction every hour can add up add up to significant reductions over a year.

‘And, as we all know, not using something is always better than using something and recycling it – so businesses of any size can always find ways to reduce paper, plastic and electricity consumption.’

The winner of this Sustainable Business of the Year category could be a small company with a big idea, or a corporate with a clever little initiative from one employee who happens to be a very bright spark.

But whoever it is we’re sure the winners and nominees will give all local businesses some inspiration to help move the island a step closer to a cleaner, greener future.

- To enter the awards log on to https://afe.im/