Introducing our partnership
About our partnership
Since 2021, WWF and Aviva have been working together to restore UK landscapes, build healthier more resilient communities and help transform one of the biggest indirect drivers of climate change: the UK finance sector.
The UK is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world. With nature in freefall and communities at risk of climate change events, WWF and Aviva are working together to tackle climate change to build a more sustainable future.
Aviva is WWF’s lead partner in the insurance and pensions sector. Together we are making a difference in three areas:
1. Building climate resilient communities and restoring nature
We’re living through a climate and nature emergency, seeing extreme weather events across the globe due to climate change. Together, we’re developing projects that work with nature to help reduce the effects of extreme weather, particularly flooding, on communities in the UK and Canada.
2. Encouraging action by engaging people
We'll be engaging people across Aviva's core markets in the UK and Canada, inspiring and empowering local communities, individuals, employees, and financial institutions to better understand the power of their individual choices and help them take action for our planet and create a world where people and nature thrive together. To date, Aviva colleagues in the UK have volunteered over 3,000 hours on our partnership projects.*
* 3,024 hours volunteered between July 2022 and March 2024. Hours recorded by local delivery partners.
3. Transforming the finance sector
Financial institutions have a vital role to play in the transition to a sustainable future, and together with Aviva, we are striving for a transformational shift in the sector to help slow climate change – a shift without which the UK will not be able to meet its net zero target. We will also make joint calls on the UK government to ensure they deliver on their climate and nature commitments and push for even greater and faster ambition.
Our impact
Working together lets us make a bigger difference. Here are some of the examples of activity underway.
Building climate resilient communities and restoring nature:
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© Andrew Parkinson / WWF-UKMore Wild Ingleborough
Restoring peatlands, woodland and heathland as part of the Wild Ingleborough project in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
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© Steve Morgan / WWF-UKMore Firth of Forth
Restoring seagrass meadows and native oyster beds in the Firth of Forth in Scotland.
Working closely with local communities and raising awareness of the benefits of marine restoration to bring the heritage of the coastal communities back to life.
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© Jiri Rezac / WWF-UKMore East Anglia
Restoring the natural flow of rivers in East Anglia to reduce flooding within a number of catchments through natural flood management, building physical and community resilience in this unique, largely agricultural landscape.
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© Joseph Gray / WWF-UKMore River Soar
Restoring the natural flow of rivers in the East Midlands. Funding innovative natural flood-management initiatives that will create multiple benefits for nature, while building greater climate resilience within the wider community.
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© Andrew Parkinson / WWF-UKMore Saltmarsh Research Project Lancashire (UK)
This research - carried out in partnership with Aviva, and in collaboration with the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) - represents a significant step in addressing critical knowledge gaps in saltmarsh management. The project will also monitor the role these important habitats can play in fighting climate change and removing carbon emissions from the atmosphere.
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© Kevin Lamb / WWF-CanadaMore Nature and Climate Grant Programme (Canada)
Aviva Canada is investing over $2million over three years in WWF-Canada's Nature and Climate Grant program, to help local groups and Indigenous organisations restore degraded lands and shorelines in order to improve habitats and capture carbon.
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Encouraging action by engaging people:
The Save Our Wild Isles Community Fund
WWF, Aviva and the RSPB came together to launch the Save Our Wild Isles Community Fund, to make it easier for communities to take action for UK nature in their local area. From the Scottish Highlands, right down to the Cornish Riviera, nearly 250 groups took part, collectively raising over £2.5million, from over 12,000 supporters, to help bring UK nature back to life.
Access to Nature Fund
WWF, Aviva and Norfolk Rivers Trust, are giving £50,000 to help community groups in Norfolk connect with nature. If you’re a community group experiencing challenges in accessing nature, apply today.
Transforming the finance sector:
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© Getty Images / Artur Debat / WWF-USMore National Nature-positive pathways to guide policy and private sec…
In our October 2024 joint report – National Nature-positive pathways to guide policy and private sector action, WWF-UK and our partner Aviva outline the case for the development of government-endorsed nature-positive sectoral pathways, so that the private sector and the Government can tackle the nature emergency together.
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© WWF-UKMore Unlocking finance for nature: learning from experience in driving…
Our fourth policy paper, released December 2022, outlines a seven-step pathway to support governments internationally to mobilise the private finance required to tackle the nature crisis.
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© WWF-UKMore A UK Net Zero Investment Plan for Green Growth
Our third paper, released in October 2022, called for a net-zero investment plan, to catalyse private finance to deliver green growth in the UK and deliver wider benefits such as improved energy security and alleviating the rising cost of living.
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© WWF-UKMore Aligning the Financial System to Net-Zero
In May 2022, we released a second paper setting out future steps we believe the UK Government should take to embed and accelerate the net-zero transition, supported by the financial sector. It spans policy on private sector transition plans, a transitioning planning approach in government, and the integration of nature.
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© WWF-UKMore Transition plans for a net zero future
June 2021 saw the power of our partnership. Together we successfully called on the UK Government to introduce mandatory net-zero transitions plans for financial institutions, including through our first position paper, which the government then announced at COP26.
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Take Action
Take Action
If you’ve been inspired to take action for nature, here are a few things you could do;
- Volunteer at one of our Aviva funded UK nature restoration projects:
- If you’re a community group looking for funding for a project focused on climate action, explore the Aviva Community Fund
- Share our latest business films to get a conversation on nature started in your department, organisation or industry group.
- Find out more ways you can help bring our world back to life.
Why we’re working together
The UK finance sector is one of the UK's biggest indirect drivers of climate change. Financial institutions have a vital role to play in the transition to a sustainable future, and together, we are striving for a transformational shift in the sector to help slow climate change - a shift without which the UK will not be able to meet its net-zero target.
As the UK’s leading insurer, Aviva is already a climate leader in the finance sector. In 2021, Aviva became the first major insurer worldwide to target net zero carbon by 2040. Together we have the reach and influence to help reimagine and start to reorient the way financial services function in a sustainable economy.
Hear from our CEO's
Tanya Steele, CEO, WWF-UK and Aviva Group CEO Amanda Blanc talk about our exciting partnership in this short film.
