We stand for a healthier environment

We’re living in an unprecedented time of environmental crisis, and our future relies on the health of our planet

We believe that health and the environment are inextricably linked, and without a healthy planet, we ourselves cannot truly thrive. That’s why at Simplyhealth, we are continuing to take steps to protect and regenerate our planet’s resources and its ecosystems.

Two Simplyhealth employees picking litter from the river

Our environment – our responsibility

From climate change to plastic pollution and species extinction. The challenges are enormous and urgent. The responsibility for tackling them lies with all of us.

At Simplyhealth, our business is health. And we know that without a healthy planet, humans won’t be healthy either. So, we take our environmental responsibilities seriously for many reasons.

Our sustainability programme is extensive and covers everything – from reducing our carbon footprint to responsible paper use, reducing our waste and our extensive recycling activities.

As a result of these sustained environmental investments and improvements, we are proud to be:

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) accreditated

A CO2e Assessed Organisation, CO2e Reducing Company, Carbon Neutral and aCarbon Neutral Plus organisation by Carbon Footprint Ltd

Certified as the UK’s first B Corp Health Insurer – scoring 12.5 in the Environment Impact category

Our environmental achievements so far

Over the past three years, we’ve been accelerating our environmental activities as part of our overall approach to sustainability.

At our Head Office, we:

Use LED lighting only
Use 100% green electricity from renewable sources
Recycle 51% of our operational waste - the remainder is incinerated for energy recovery
Use floor tiles made from 100% green energy and fully circular recycled materials
Have eight electric car charging points for colleague and visitor use for free
Upcycle, recycle or donate our office furniture and equipment
Only use recycled work surfaces in social areas and kitchens
Have upgraded cycle/bike sheds

In our wider business operations, we have:

Reduced our paper use by 99.17 tonnes of CO2e (since 2019)
Increased our fleet of hybrid/electric vehicles to 88%
Reduced our Scope 1 & 2 GHG emissions by 56% (since 2019)
Reduced our Scope 3 GHG emissions by 51%^* (since 2019)
Delivered an annual programme of webinars from environmental experts, as part of our All Together Healthier Programme for colleagues
Created a Green Dentistry programme to champion sustainable and responsible dental practices in the UK

*Scope 3 reporting currently excludes purchased goods and services, capital goods, upstream and downstream transportation and distribution, employee commuting and investments.

What is net zero and climate change?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines net zero emissions as when greenhouse gas emissions are balanced globally, by the intentional removal of greenhouse gases through human activity. A greenhouse gas is a gas, such as carbon dioxide and others, that absorbs and emits radiant energy causing the greenhouse effect.

Human activities have increased the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. As a result, significant and measurable changes have occurred in our global climate. These long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns are known as climate change.

To tackle climate change and its negative impacts, in 2015 world leaders reached a breakthrough. They committed to the historic and legally binding international treaty called the Paris Agreement, which set long-term goals to guide all nations (and therefore businesses) to reduce global greenhouse emissions.

Our future environmental goals

We've set targets for positive change aligned to the 2015 Paris Agreement, the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and the UK Government’s 2050 Net Zero strategy, published in 2021.

Alongside this, because Simplyhealth is a large UK-based insurer, we also need to comply with new regulations, such as the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). We recognise and welcome these concerted efforts from government, regulators, businesses and the third sector.

These emerging frameworks and targets will help us to continuously evaluate and improve our environmental footprint, manage our environmental risks and reduce the negative environmental impacts of our operations. We also know it’s important to all of our stakeholders that we continue to make and prioritise green choices.

Our programme of environmental improvements stretches to 2030 and beyond, and we have set ourselves some ambitious goals:

Target: Fully electric fleet by 2030.

Target: Increase our operational waste recycling rate to 95% by 2023.

Target: To be operationally net zero (Scope 1 and 2 direct emissions) by 2030.

Ambition: To reduce our Scope 3 emissions by 50% by 2030*, and become a net zero company by 2050, or sooner.

Our commitment to becoming a net zero business

We have immensely strong backing from our Board and Leadership team, who really understand the benefits of being an environmentally friendly, sustainable business which is leading the transition to a net zero economy.

As part of our pathway to become operationally (Scope 1 and 2 direct emissions) net zero by 2030 and reduce our Scope 3 emissions, we have developed a timeline to provide a high-level overview of our goals and activities over the short to medium term.

Continue to reduce our Scope 1 and 2 direct emissions by:

Moving to use one office building only to reduce our physical footprint (and associated operational emissions)
The elimination of gas for office building heating (transferring to renewable sources)
Accelerating the roll-out of our electric vehicle fleet

Continue to track and reduce our Scope 3 emissions by:

Reducing our overall paper use via our Digital Adoption Customer Programme
Reviewing and reclassifying 'essential travel' to help reduce our travel emissions
Further analysis of our Home Workers activity, to identify opportunities to reduce emissions while colleagues are working from home
Reviewing all Simplyhealth Tier 1, 2 and 3 suppliers and modelling emissions in order to identify opportunities to reduce our overall supply chain footprint
Launching Simplyhealth’s first Environmental Purchasing Policy, to help guide what we purchase and from who

Green dentistry

Reducing our carbon footprint, protecting the environment and reducing waste without compromising patient safety and quality of care is a priority for us.

Denplan is part of Simplyhealth. We share a joint vision for sustainability, which is why in 2022, we launched our leading Green Dentistry Programme.

Want to find out more?

For a full breakdown of Simplyhealth’s current Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, please visit the Sustainability section of our latest Annual Report.