Naturesave Insurance is celebrating a new milestone, having given £1 million of its income to projects across the UK that promote sustainability.
While Naturesave, founded in 1993, offers insurance to individuals, businesses, and charitable organisations, the insurance provider is also a specialist in “eco” houses and renewable energy systems and provides specialist insurance services to green sectors of the economy. Since the beginning, the company has donated 10% of its household and travel insurance premiums into its charity, the Naturesave Trust.
The Naturesave Trust provides grants of between £500 and £5,000 to small-scale, grassroots environmental and conservation projects, organisations and charities across the UK. Since starting the fund, Naturesave has helped over 500 projects, which include renewable energy, low carbon transport, nature conservation, community agriculture, recycling and repair and eco-education.
“I realised that, although the insurance industry was not taking environmental issues seriously, it would be in the front line in dealing with the consequences of environmental disasters,” said Naturesave founder Mathew Criddle (pictured). “At the same time, it possesses an almost unparalleled potential to reduce the impact of climate change by actively promoting the production and consumption of sustainable alternatives to energy derived from fossil fuels.”
Criddle added that when he founded the company, he wanted to develop a sustainable business model which “reflected the growing demand by individuals and organisations for greener and more ethical insurance.”
Past and present recipients of the trust include the Solar Bee Project, the Marine Conservation Society, a start-up grant for low-emission light rail transport using flywheel technology; grants to open ‘repair cafes’, a project to enable prisoners to refurbish bikes; and a land restoration project in West Wales.
