The British unit of Swiss insurance giant Zurich has launched a new accreditation scheme to encourage its suppliers to adopt sustainable business practices.

The Supplier Accreditation Scheme is designed to help Zurich UK increase transparency in its own supply chain by measuring and tracking its suppliers’ environmental and community activities and scoring them accordingly.

Companies could be awarded gold, solver or bronze accreditation depending on their approach to sustainability.

The accreditation scheme is being rolled out across the insurance firm’s UK supplier base, which will be invited to complete a questionnaire covering a broad range of topics including environmental impact, diversity and inclusion, workplace rights and governance.

Six of its suppliers – Enterprise Rent-A-Car, business and brand communications firm RR Donnelley, Royal Mail, catering firm Sodexo, delivery management firm Whistl and stationery specialists WildHearts – have so far received the gold accreditation.

Sophie Timms, Head of UK Corporate Affairs at Zurich UK said: “We want to work with suppliers who share the same ethos so we’ve launched the Supplier Accreditation Scheme to encourage them to do the right thing. We’re delighted to see that some of our suppliers are already embracing the behaviours and values which we firmly believe are best for business, customers, their employees and society.

“We strongly believe that by integrating social and environmental concerns into our business operations, we can make a real difference and help effect social change. We hope we can work with more of our suppliers to help drive a movement for further change and embed sustainability across our whole supply chain.”