Bold Tendencies

Our position on sustainability and the environment has emerged over the past 2 years following discussions with various organisations – particularly the Gallery Climate Coalition – about the art world’s contribution to climate change and what steps can be taken to reduce this. We have looked into environmental credentials of the insurers we work with so we can gage the impact these companies have on the environment and what they are doing to combat this. Details of this can be found on our sustainability page.

We joined the Gallery Climate Coalition in 2021 and in doing so committed to aiming to reduce our CO2 emissions by at least 50% by 2030. We have established a 2019 baseline carbon figure and will work from this, carbon reporting annually to track progress.

Our Green team was formally established in October 2022.

So far, our role has been 2 pronged:

1 - to take steps to de-carbonise our own operations

2 - to promote de-carbonisation and provide support to de-carbonisation initiatives.

This particularly came into focus with Adam’s involvement with the GCC sustainable
shipping campaign where he was the conduit between the GCC and the wider
insurance industry which resulted in specific best practice guidelines for sea shipping
in order to make this a viable and insurable shipping option.

Sustainability in our offices

As a small company we have a small carbon footprint, but we are still looking at ways in which we can reduce it. We have been members of the Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) since its inception and are working towards active member status by:

  • Implementing a Green Team to lead on initiatives and track progress
  • Completing a 2019 carbon report which will give us a baseline carbon footprint to compare successive years to
  • Carbon reporting on an annual basis
  • Working to reduce this by; travelling by rail and public transport wherever possible, looking at ways we can reduce our energy consumption in our offices, looking at ways we can further reduce waste or use more sustainable processes.
  • Travel to Europe including, importantly, Art Basel is only by train
  • Assisting and supporting the GCC and other environmental initiatives in their mission by providing insurance knowledge, participating in or promoting events and best practice guidelines

Advocating for change

Hallett Independent ensures it is involved in industry specific discussions about how we can play our part - and help our clients play their part - tackling climate change. We work to clarify the part insurance may play in the climate discussion and to ensure that insurance requirements do not hinder the desire to do things more sustainably.

The transportation of works of art via air freight is a major contribution to greenhouse gas
emissions in the art sector. When the GCC recommended galleries send works of art via
sea freight as opposed to air - which has x60 the carbon footprint of sea shipping - Adam
pointed out that this would be superb except that most art insurers impose limitations on
transit cover via sea freight or exclude cover altogether. Adam then played a key role acting
as the conduit between GCC and the wider fine art insurance including the Lloyds Market
Association and Joint Specie Committee to develop best practice guidelines for insuring sea
transits.  

Best practice and insurance guidelines from the GCC website 

Events

Useful Information

Documents, links and updates on climate change and insurance can be found here:

GCC sustainable shipping

Flood re

Insurers we use

We realise our clients may be interested in the insurers we use and their approach to sustainability. They have detailed ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) policies which can be found on their websites, some links below.

Many insurers subscribe to the Paris agreement, put into place at COP 21 in 2015. Its goal
is to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Also, insurers who underwrite but also may invest in companies involved in fossil fuels, have
put measures in place to extricate themselves from these businesses. Measures include not
providing any new (and phasing out by 2025) any existing insurance businesses involved in thermal coal, oil sands or exploration, production or transportation of oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife refuge.

Our Impact, Our Future: Sustainability at AXA XL

Aviva: Taking Climate Action

Environmental charities we support/are members of