Climate and Insurance.org | takefive with Barbara Turley-McIntyre and Mark Feeney

Barbara Turley-McIntyre began her insurance career 27 years ago as an independent insurance broker in Montréal, Quebec. Since joining The Co-operators in 1997, Ms. Turley-McIntyre has assumed increasing roles of responsibility in insurance operations and corporate affairs and is presently Director of Sustainability and Corporate Citizenship. In this capacity, she is responsible for leading the newly created sustainability policy and strategy, the Corporate Giving Program, the Co-operative Development Program, the Community Economic Development Foundation and producing the annual Sustainability Report. Ms. Turley-McIntyre holds her Chartered Insurance Professional designation. She volunteers with many community-based organizations and is presently a director of the MacDonald Stewart Art Centre at the University of Guelph and vice-chair of the City of Guelph Downtown Board of Management.

Mark Feeney has been in the insurance industry for more than 20 years, having begun his career in sales as a captive agent for The Co-operators in Kitchener, Ontario. He has worked in a number of field and agency management roles throughout his career and is currently Vice President of Personal Lines and Packaged Commercial for Co-operators General Insurance Company and HB/Coseco Insurance. Mr. Feeney holds the designations of Chartered Insurance Professional, Chartered Financial Consultant, Certified Financial Planner and Chartered Life Underwriter.

Takefive:
In 2007, The Co-operators incorporated its commitment to sustainability by developing a sustainability policy that includes four guiding principles. Can you explain how this policy came about and describe for us the guiding principles?

Barbara Turley-McIntyre and Mark Feeney:
The impetus for our sustainability journey came when our CEO, Kathy Bardswick, heard Dr. Karl Henrik Robèrt, the founder of The Natural Step, speak at the 2005 annual general meeting of the International Co-operative and Mutual Insurance Federation. The Natural Step is an international not-for-profit organization that helps companies act more responsibly. Kathy decided then that The Co-operators would adopt a more formalized approach to meeting sustainability goals, and the Natural Step provided a framework to do just that.

Today, our interests have expanded and we are focusing on our environmental footprint as well as our ROI. Some of our activities include a formal recycling program that started in 1982, planting our first green roof, having one of our major building entirely powered by alternative energy, and offering a paperless billing option to our customers.

The following year, Dr. Robèrt spoke at The Co-operators annual general meeting and outlined his organization’s four guiding principles. Those are that in a sustainable society, nature is not subjected to systematically increasing:

Takefive:
In addition to adopting The Co-operators Sustainability Policy and Strategy, your organization amended its Vision and Values statements. Can you talk about those changes?

Barbara Turley-McIntyre and Mark Feeney:
The board of directors amended our vision statement to include the goal of becoming a catalyst for a sustainable society. Our statement of values was also changed to reflect the fact that as a responsible corporate citizen we believe in balancing our economic, social and environmental priorities; and that we must be accountable for operating within a closed ecosystem.

These changes were incredibly important to us because they signaled how transformative an undertaking our sustainability journey would be. It was vital that it come directly from the board, which articulates our vision and values, and determines our strategic direction. From that point on our staff members across the group of companies had not only the authority, but also a responsibility to embed more sustainable practices into all aspects of our operations.

Takefive:
As part of your commitment to sustainability, The Co-operators determined that sustainable thinking needed to be integrated to the core of your organization. Can you explain some of the activities that you undertook to help achieve this integration?

Barbara Turley-McIntyre and Mark Feeney:
One of the first initiatives we undertook was to design a customized e-learning course with the Natural Step, based on the four principles we discussed earlier. It was made widely available throughout the organization. This helped us create a shared understanding of sustainability, which would serve as a foundation upon which to build.

One of the first initiatives we undertook was to design a customized e-learning course with the Natural Step, based on the four principles we discussed earlier. It was made widely available throughout the organization. This helped us create a shared understanding of sustainability, which would serve as a foundation upon which to build. Then, some of the operational mechanics were established. This included the amendment of our vision and values statements, the creation of a sustainability department and committees at the board and staff levels, and adoption of a sustainability strategy. The strategy has four key components:

With that infrastructure in place, we began gathering measurements to determine baselines against which we can gauge our progress.

We have challenged every part of the organization to contribute to our goals, and tied sustainability objectives into our compensation scheme for senior management. We are at the point now where different parts of the organization are implementing specific initiatives, from waste reduction to discounts for hybrid vehicles to overhauling our own vehicle fleet to reduce emissions.

Takefive:
The Co-operators also has sought opportunities to collaborate with other like-minded organizations and to further the sustainability dialogue. Can you describe some of these activities?

Barbara Turley-McIntyre and Mark Feeney:
As a co-operative, we are very keen to work with our member organizations and with other co-operatives. Our experience with adopting more sustainable practices is a great opportunity to do that. We’ve learned a great deal working with the Natural Step and planning how to integrate sustainable thinking into our operations, and we’re more than happy to share that knowledge. We’ve done so with our own members, and with other co-operatives and mutual insurers, through presentations to organizations such as the International Co-operative Alliance, International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation, the Canadian Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, and many other Canadian and international organizations.

Further, we’ve made information available by posting studies we’ve commissioned on our website. If there are organizations we can help – even our competitors – to adopt more sustainable behavior, we’re more than willing to do that. Ultimately, it will benefit us all and society as a whole.

Also, we amended our vision statement to reflect our commitment to becoming a catalyst for a sustainable society. To that end, we are acting as an advocate with many of our stakeholders. We hope to affect the behavior of both our employees and our clients by offering incentives and educating them about sustainability matters.

We’re also in the process of adapting our purchasing policies so that the organization’s purchasing power supports good corporate citizens, rather than simply those that supply the most affordable products. We’re very much aware of the ripple effect that our decisions can have, and are committed to making a positive contribution in that way. And we’re a sustainability advocate when it comes to our dialogue with governments in Canada.

Takefive:
Finally, now that The Co-operators has initiated its Sustainability Policy and Strategy, what targets has the organization set for itself going forward?

Barbara Turley-McIntyre and Mark Feeney:
We consider the adoption of more sustainable practices to be a journey rather than a destination. We’ll continue to set new targets and seek to improve our performance year after year.

But at this early stage we have established specific goals and worked on establishing baseline measurements so that we can begin to chart our progress. Our goals by 2010 include reducing paper use by 20 percent, cutting air travel by 20 percent, cutting the emissions of our fleet of vehicles by 14 percent, and reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that result from energy used in many of the buildings we occupy by 10 percent.

Every part of our organization – distribution, claims, facilities management, corporate donations, and government relations – is working sustainability into their strategic plans for 2009 and beyond. Many of these are focused on the environment, but they also involve ways that we can contribute to enhancing the economic and social well-being of our communities and our planet.