Discovery is going green. Well… greener.
The innovative health company has announced its new Discovery Green initiative to provide companies with an easy way to switch to renewable energy.
As part of its own attempts to reduce its carbon footprint, Discovery Group CEO Adrian Gore said the insurer thinks it can help other companies achieve the same.
Discovery wants to be carbon neutral by 2025, he says, and reduce the 29,000 tons of carbon it consumes. Although this is “relatively low,” he says, “it became clear that consumption of electricity is the core of that”.
So, Discovery set about working on how it could reduce its grid electricity and formulated its new energy initiative.
Discovery goes green-er
What they found, says Gore, is that becoming more clean energy efficient is not unlike Discovery’s existing Vitality model of being healthier.
The insurance giant’s various health, life insurance, banking and driving offerings incentivise people to do those better, the end result is “we meet needs of customers in specific ways but also make an impact on society”.
There was a “realisation that we are completely aligned to customers. If they are healthier, we are more profitable,” says Gore.
In terms of health, “just a few behavioural changes make all the difference”. These include things like alcohol, smoking, eating badly, and exercise which all have an impact on health.
Gore says it is “fascinating [that] climate change is no different. Four behaviour types drive a customer’s footprint, accounting for 85% of personal emissions”.
He adds: “what became clear is that consumption of electricity is the core of that”.
Discovery will oversee the building of renewable power sources, including solar, wind and other forms of renewable energy, says Andre Nepgen, the head of Discovery Green.
We are busy procuring between 400MW and 1,000MW of energy to plug into this platform,” he says. This process should be completed in two years.
Discovery Green will begin offering two options for businesses, Green Saver (which will have 70% of the energy supplied from renewables) and Green Guarantee (100%).
The former will offer up to 20% savings over utility prices, he adds. “These will create enormous savings on your electricity bill without any upfront costs”.