Arma Karma

Arma Karma was created as a flexible insurance option for renters looking to cover the items that matter most to them, without having to commit to an annual contents policy. Every month they are protecting their valuable items through Arma Karma, subscribers can be supporting a good cause at no extra cost to them, as 25% of commission revenue on the policy goes to a charity of their choice from a select panel of four. The B-Corp pending insurtech also contributes to carbon offsetting projects through climate crisis solution platform, Ecologi.

www.armakarma.insure
hello@armakarma.insure

Arma Karma

Arma Karma was created as a flexible insurance option for renters looking to cover the items that matter most to them, without having to commit to an annual contents policy. Every month they are protecting their valuable items through Arma Karma, subscribers can be supporting a good cause at no extra cost to them, as 25% of commission revenue on the policy goes to a charity of their choice from a select panel of four. The B-Corp pending insurtech also contributes to carbon offsetting projects through climate crisis solution platform, Ecologi.

www.armakarma.insure
hello@armakarma.insure

Insure Green

Insure Green t/a Independent Insurance Services would like to offer all members of The Green Providers Directory a minimum 5% discount on any new insurance product taken out with them. 

They will also offer you a free review of all your insurance needs – as businesses grow, many do not keep their insurance companies informed and therefore are often under-insured, which causes them a major problem if a claim has to be made. They will sit down with you to make sure that all your insurance requirements are met.

They specialise in the commercial market and can cover any type of risk, including Property Liabilities, Professional Indemnity, Fleet, Mini-Fleet, Contractors, Homeworkers, Transit, Shop, Office, Restaurant & Pub, Cyber, and many more specialist schemes, they can also take care of your personal insurance needs too!

If your insurances are not due for renewal yet, let them know your renewal date, along with a copy of your current insurance schedule, and they’ll contact you when it’s due to arrange a quotation.

They can be your helping hand for claims, to get your business back on track as quickly as possible. Additionally, they are able to offer their customers, both personal and commercial, Private Medical Insurance - a handy and useful benefit to be able to offer your employees!

Call them on 01303 22 11 88, or email info@independentinsuranceservices.co.uk to see how they can help you, quoting reference GID15IG.

Independent Insurance Services is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (firm reference number: 304299). FCA Registration details can be checked at www.fca.org.uk/registeror by contacting the FCA on 0800 111 6768.

Insure Green

Insure Green is a trading arm of Independent Insurance Services, one of the first carbon neutral insurance brokers, giving customers a variety of benefits, help, and guidance all focussed on saving you money whilst simultaneously helping the environment.

They can provide insurance cover for individuals or businesses, they are trusted by start-ups, and SMEs to large corporates.

Insure Green are an award winning broker, offering first class service, coupled with innovative products, giving competitive rates for standard, and non-standard risks alike, all the while being environmentally aware.

Call 01303 22 11 88, they’re there to help.

www.insuregreen.co.uk

Drive an eco friendly car? Don't miss out on green insurance savings!

There has been a rapid rise in the number of low emission vehicles and hybrid cars on Britain's roads as more drivers look to cut costs with saving on fuel and tax.

 

What many don't realise is that insurance on these types of cars is often lower too, with many green insurance companies offering discounts for eco friendly and low emission vehicles.

Some green insurance companies also offer to offset your carbon emissions or contribute some of their profits to good causes.

 

If you drive a low emission, eco friendly car then don't miss out on potential savings on your insurance too whilst helping to protect the planet!

 

The Green Providers Directory provides a list of green insurance companies who specialise in this area.

 

 

"It wasn't the Exxon Valdez captain's driving that caused the Alaskan oil spill. It was

yours." - Greenpeace advertisement, New York Times, 25 February 1990

Big increase in sales of fuel efficient cars

Rising fuel prices have encouraged more people to buy low emission, fuel efficient cars according to the motor industry body SMMT. In fact, 47% of cars sold in 2011 emitted less than 130g per km, an increase of 11% since 2007.

Average emissions from new cars sold in 2011 stood at 138.1g/km. The average must fall below 130g/km by 2015, then below 95g/km by 2020, in line with European Union regulation.

New or nearly new cars are now so fuel efficient that, combined with the current high cost of petrol and diesel, switching from an old, thirsty model often pays for itself. And it is not only private car buyers who have cottoned on to this. Demand for fuel efficient cars has also soared amongst fleet buyers.

Both fleet and private car buyers realise this, so demand for fuel efficient cars has soared.

There are other savings too, such as road tax and insurance, which are typically lower for low emission cars. Many green insurance companies also now offer discounts for drivers of low emission and fuel efficient cars.

Taken in combination, the savings from driving a low emission car can be significant.

Only nine car companies achieved EU target for CO2 emissions in 2011

According to figures produced by Clean Green Cars, only nine car companies have achieved the EU target for CO2 emissions of 130g per km set for 2012. However, on a more positive note, overall emissions for new cars fell by over 4 percent.

The nine car companies who achieved emission targets were:

Fiat
Citroen
Toyota
SEAT
Lexus
Mini
Alfa Romeo
Peugeot
Hyundai

Many well known car manufacturers, some of whom promote themselves as green and eco-friendly, failed to meet the EU’s emission targets and do not appear in the list of nine. Another example of ‘greenwash’ aimed at deceiving car buyers where reality is divorced from the truth.

The same principle applies to green car insurance, where companies who promote their ostensibly green credentials have simply bought carbon credits without actually doing anything worthwhile to protect the environment.

Hydrogen cars - the future?

The opening of the UK's first public refuelling station for hydrogen vehicles in Swindon is part of efforts to create a "hydrogen highway" along the M4 motorway. It is also seen as an important step in a UK-wide scheme to make hydrogen vehicles a viable alternative to petrol-driven cars. "A hydrogen car is much cleaner than a conventional car," says Professor Kevin Kendall, a hydrogen and fuel cell expert from Birmingham University. "This will clean up our cities enormously," he says in an interview with BBC News. "No emissions whatsoever." For more information on green cars and green insurance visit the Green Insurance Directory.

Survey reveals environmental damage of car washing

It's a typical Sunday morning chore, but over half of British motorists are unaware of the environmental harm of regularly hand washing their cars.

Whilst nearly three quarters (74%) of Britons understand that their individual actions have an effect on the environment, they appear to be unaware that washing a car on streets and driveways causes dirty water to run into the nearest rivers and streams, where it affects water quality and harms wildlife.

Survey organisers Total UK and TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk say if half of the 43 million British motorists decided to hand wash their car, 14 billion litres of untreated water would flow into local waterways .

Green cars

Hybrid cars Hybrid cars use a conventional petrol engine as well as an electric battery that charges as you drive and automatically switches on when the car slows down, making city driving more eco-friendly. These cars cost around two-thirds less to run than a petrol car, have reduced road tax and are exempt from the London congestion charge.

Electric cars With no exhaust emissions, electric cars are currently the most eco-friendly way to drive (assuming your electricity supply comes from a renewable source of course!). Plug them in, charge up for a few pence and away you go. Electric cars are really only suitable for local driving as they have a typical range of about 40-50 miles and a top speed of about 50 mph. However, technology is fast improving.

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) Adapting your car to run on LPG typically costs £1000 - £2000, but it is more efficient than petrol and produces less pollutants than diesel. A full tank will cost around half the cost of petrol, although the cost of new LPG cars will be higher - typically £1200 - £2000 more than for non-LPG versions.

Petrol versus diesel? Diesel cars are more fuel-efficient than petrol-driven ones - burning a litre of diesel creates more CO2 than burning a litre of petrol, but the engine efficiency just about makes up for that. However, diesel will create more dirty emissions such as nitrogen oxides and particulates that can affect health. If you are considering buying a diesel car, choose one with a diesel particulate filter (DPF), as this will reduce these emissions. That said, if you live in an urban area and drive a petrol engine that uses the latest low-sulphur fuel, it will be greener than diesel (source: Friends of the Earth).

Green car insurance. What is carbon neutral?

When insurance companies talk about being carbon neutral, they mean balancing a measured amount of carbon emissions with an equivalent amount that is captured through one process or another. With net emissions being zero it becomes ‘carbon neutral’.

The most environmentally aware insurance companies will always seek to firstly reduce their own emissions and those of their customers. This will include making their buildings more eco-friendly and cutting energy use. Customers will be encouraged to drive more fuel efficient cars and given advice and incentives to reduce their carbon footprint. Only after this will unavoidable emissions be offset.

Carbon emissions can be offset in a number of ways. For example, carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels can be balanced against renewable energy that creates a similar amount of useful energy, so that the carbon emissions are compensated. More dubiously, insurance companies can pay others to remove carbon emissions by planting trees or by funding 'carbon projects' that lead to the prevention of future greenhouse gas emissions, or by buying carbon credits to remove them through carbon trading.

Always be wary of companies who claim to be carbon neutral by simply paying for their emissions to be offset!

HSBC Insurance

HSBC Insurance has switched all of its marketing material in the UK, including direct mail, to FSC certified virgin/recycled paper, affecting the 4000 tonnes of paper destined for customers' letterboxes. Over the next few years, as more FSC certified paper grades become available, this policy will be extended to all of the paper the HSBC Group uses around the world.

Fortis buys Kwik-Fit Insurance, owner of the Green Insurance Company

We reported in February 2010 that Kwik-Fit was selling its business. Well, it’s now been sold to Fortis UK for £215m. The deal gives Fortis a combined retail customer base of 1.6 million, making it the 4th largest personal lines intermediary distributor in the UK.

This is important for the green and eco-friendly insurance market since Kwik-Fit owns the Green Insurance Company, one of the flagship eco-friendly insurance companies offering to offset 100% of a driver’s annual emissions.

It is unclear at this stage what will happen to the Green Insurance Company, and its promise of offering to offset a driver’s carbon emissions. Last year we reported that I Buy Eco had abandoned its commitment to offset drivers' carbon emissions and were instead offering a £5 charity donation

Air pollution and driving

Radical shift in transport policy needed to cut air pollution

Dr. Gary Robertshaw
March 2010

Air pollution is taking up to nine years off the lives of people who live in pollution hotspots or who have a respiratory illness, according to a report by the UK House of Commons' Environmental Audit Committee. Tiny particles of sulphate, carbon and dust are the most damaging to health, but nitrogen oxides and ozone also have an effect. In fact, the UK is in breach of European regulations for all of these, and could face fines of up to £300 million. Road transport is the main culprit. Power plants also churn out damaging particles but mostly away from cities.

Only a radical shift in transport policy will allow the UK to meet its targets, the report concludes. "But such a shift is unlikely to occur in the next 10 years, unless the government starts taking sustainable transport seriously," says Paul Firmin of the Institute for Transport Studies at the University of Leeds, UK.

Our view is that the incentive for drivers of large, inefficient vehicles such as 4x4s to switch to smaller, fuel-efficient cars is far too weak. A very significant increase in the road tax for the largest vehicles, most polluting vehicles is needed.

Finally, this isn’t just another debate surrounding global warming. It’s about ordinary people like us (I am asthmatic), who don’t want to be literally choked to death by air pollution.

The evolving green insurance revolution

Ever the sceptic when we hear about large companies claiming to have become eco-friendly, we were nevertheless heartened to hear that M&S Money will no longer automatically replace fridges, washing machines and other white goods on a like-for-like basis. Instead it will pay for a model that is rated at least an 'A' for energy efficiency, even if it costs more than the original. In addition, where significant rebuilding is needed, such as after a fire, the insurance will pay for the work to be done in line with the best environmental standards - the Code for Sustainable Homes Level 4. This can reduce the amount of carbon produced in building and running a home by about half. Whilst this may be seen as expedience by M&S marketing gurus in recognising and exploiting growing consumer concerns over the environment, it’s an important development when seen in the wider context. That is, it underlines the power of the consumer to force companies to change their policies whilst signalling a growing (albeit sometimes begrudging) willingness by larger companies to take environmental concerns more seriously. Its clearly only a start since, for example, we still have supermarkets selling products made with palm oil obtained from plantations built on cleared rainforests, selling clothes made by children working under appalling conditions and selling food flown in from across the globe clocking up huge carbon miles. These same supermarkets promote themselves as being eco-friendly with ‘green’ good and services. But with concerted pressure this hypocrisy can be exposed and policies changed. While M&S Money says its specific green policy features are a first, there are already other environmentally friendly insurance options that can be found throughout the Green Providers Directory. Many of the companies listed offer discounts on insurance for households that reflect eco-lifestyles, including homes with cavity wall and loft insulation, wind turbines, solar panels, double glazing, energy-efficient appliances and water butts in the garden. Further, its not only household insurance where the type of policy you buy could make a difference. Several insurers are now running offset schemes where part of the premium goes towards compensating for the amount of CO2 you produce. Co-operative Insurance, for example, runs a carbon offset scheme for all of its motor insurance policies. Projects include planting new forests in Uganda and subsidising people in Madagascar who are purchasing energy-efficient stoves so that they don't need to cut down so many trees for fuel. Dr. Gary Robertshaw January 2010

Green insurance - how ethical is your insurance company?

When insurance companies claim to be carbon neutral, they usually mean balancing a measured amount of carbon emissions with an equivalent amount that is captured through some mechanism or other. With net emissions being zero it becomes ‘carbon neutral’. The most environmentally aware insurance companies will always seek to firstly reduce their own emissions and those of their customers. This will include making their buildings more eco-friendly, cutting energy use and encouraging customers to drive more fuel efficient cars - giving advice and incentives to reduce their carbon footprint. Only after this will unavoidable emissions be offset. Carbon emissions can be offset in a number of ways. For example, carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels can be balanced against renewable energy that creates a similar amount of useful energy, so that the carbon emissions are compensated. More dubiously, insurance companies can pay others to remove carbon emissions by planting trees or by funding 'carbon projects' that lead to the prevention of future greenhouse gas emissions, or by buying carbon credits to remove them through carbon trading. Always be wary of companies who claim to be carbon neutral by simply paying for their emissions to be offset! Avoid ‘green-wash’ Avoid insurance companies who cynically allude to being environmentally friendly by introducing token gesture benefits. For example, always inquire about what they are doing to cut their own emissions, how they are contributing to combating climate change, and find out if they give discounts for low emission vehicles and eco-friendly initiatives. More tellingly, ask them what car their CEO drives! FSA Fines The FSA has the power to fine insurance companies who treat customers unfairly. Here are some examples - has your insurance company mistreated its customers? Egg fined £721,000 and will compensate PPI customers "Egg used inappropriate sales techniques to try to persuade customers to buy payment protection insurance on their credit card even when they asserted they did not want the cover." 10th December 2008 FSA fines Hastings £735,000 for not treating customers fairly The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined Hastings Insurance Services Ltd (Hastings) £735,000 for failing to treat its customers fairly in relation to cancelling around 4,550 incorrectly priced car insurance policies. "It is clear from our investigation that Hastings put its own interests ahead of those of its customers." 28th July 2008 Liverpool Victoria Banking Services to pay £840,000 fine plus compensation to PPI customers following FSA investigation The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined Liverpool Victoria Banking Services Limited (LVBS) £840,000 for serious failings in the sale of single premium Payment Protection Insurance (PPI). 30th July 2008 The Green Providers Directory