Environmental Policy
Thinking of our impact
TIAA keeps our environmental and social responsibilities at the forefront of our approach to business
At TIAA, we are committed to giving back. We are an employee led company involved with the wider community and all our staff are ethically centred to research new ways of heightening our levels of social responsibility.
Our environmental impact
The company recognises the effect of our processes and services on the environment. These are principally:
- paper usage;
- energy consumption; and
- car emissions.
We are committed to sustainable development and aim, where possible, to contribute positively to the environment. The Company is also dedicated to ensuring full compliance with environmental legislation, preventing pollution and the principal of continual environmental improvement.
Minimising waste
Employees are required to assist in meeting our commitments through movement towards waste minimisation:
- We make extensive use of electronic working papers resulting in less need for paper.
- Over 99% of our corporate communications are via email and the internet.
- We repurpose or recycle all used materials where possible and use Fairtrade products where available and recycled materials where appropriate.
Reducing consumption
Employees are required to assist in meeting our commitments through monitoring and reduction of energy consumption by:
- Ensuring PC’s, photocopiers, printers and monitors are closed down fully each evening
- Lights are switched off when not in use.
Reducing emissions
Employees are required to assist in meeting our commitments in minimising use of transport:
- Virtual meetings where possible, reducing the need to travel.
- Home working is part of our flexible working policy.
- Travelling by public transport wherever possible.
- Reduction in the environmental impact of emissions by providing more fuel efficient vehicles.
- Our offices are located at transport hubs.
This Environmental Policy has the full backing of the Board of TIAA and is displayed on our green notice board and the company website. The Policy will be reviewed annually as part of the annual environmental review of TIAA Ltd.
We have held “Green Dragon” accreditation since 2013, and are fully committed to retaining this as part of our sustainable business model.
Environmental Performance
TIAA has signed up to the SME Climate Commitment, therefore making an internationally recognised climate commitment to take immediate action to halve our greenhouse emissions before 2030, achieve net zero emissions before 2050 and disclose progress on a yearly basis.
Our Carbon Reduction Plan sets out how we will reduce emissions from our buildings, fleet vehicles and business travel to help us achieve this objective.
We set ourselves annual environmental improvement targets to reduce our materials and resource consumption. Updates on performance against these targets for 2021/22 are included in the Environmental Performance Report. We recognise that the actions of our business also directly impact the environmental position of our customers and suppliers, and so choose to make this information publicly available.