Stepping Stone 11 Partnership with clients on green repairs and products
Along with BIBA and its members, many insurers are working hard to incorporate sustainability into their business models.
In its 2023 Manifesto, BIBA has committed to working with its insurer partners to help them engage with their claims value chain in a sustainable manner, including to increase green repair in claims instead of replacement, encouraging its use whenever possible.
BIBA’s delivery against this Manifesto commitment will facilitate members’ work to increase the uptake of green repairs and products. Meaningful progress can however be made immediately.
What are green repairs?
There is no strict definition of green parts or green repairs however generally they refer to:
- The repair of damaged products
- Where damaged products cannot be repaired, replacement with:
- re-used parts (undamaged and quality controlled)
- sustainable parts (e.g. non-original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts that can be sourced locally)
A number of insurers have made public commitments to increasing the number of green repairs – see Ageas, Zurich and Allianz for examples of these commitments.
Illustrating the scale of sustainability benefits to be unlocked from embracing green repairs, Allianz have stated that increasing the green repair rates by 2% can reduce annual Europe-wide CO2 emissions by 30,000 tons. A similar study published by AXA in February 2023 reveals that “If only windshields and bumpers were consistently repaired rather than replaced, this would equate to savings domestically of around 1,000 tonnes in carbon dioxide equivalent every year. This corresponds to the carbon emissions of a journey in the average petrol car of around 3 million km, ie circumnavigating the globe 75 times”.
While much of the discussion to date has focused upon the motor industry, opportunities extend to a much wider group of insured products e.g. home appliances.
In focus: Ecodesign for
Energy-Related Products and Energy Information
The UK Government has committed to moving towards
a more circular economy which will see us keeping
resources in use as long as possible, extracting
maximum value from them, minimising waste and promoting resource efficiency.
Regulations have been introduced which include
a ‘right to repair’ for energy-using products and provided
professional repairers with access to spare parts and
technical information from July 2021. This is specifically
designed to tackle built in obsolescence. As manufacturers are
required to make spare parts available and the range of
services provided by professional repairs expands, new opportunities will arise.
How can members support green repairs?
It is still early on in the growth of green repairs but there is a clear direction of travel. Members can make a meaningful impact through the following simple steps:
- Making a commitment to support green repairs where appropriate.
- Considering the availability of products on the market that recognise and encourage this growing movement.
- Educate yourself to be able to discuss product options for green repairs with clients at policy inception/renewal.
- Where a green repair is available following a claim event, explain the options to your client and the associated benefit. Position yourself to be able to inform the client’s choice.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to adopt
- Number of clients engaged on green repairs and products
- Number of events/entities supported on green repairs in the insurance industry