Water, cycling and paperreduction policies at Lloyd’s headquarters and the institution’s wider educational efforts are part of a twopronged approach that is seeing the market mitigate some of its own impact on climate change while trying to ready insurers to deal with the consequences.

Like efforts at many organisations, the work started with investment in energysaving equipment. Lloyd’s has spent more than £350,000 on upgrading its management systems and cooling plant at its striking City building. The results will reduce energy consumption and therefore lower bills while cutting emissions.

A new print management system has been rolled out across the organisation. It is expected to use up to 55pc less energy than the previous one, and up to 99pc less energy when devices are on standby.

Lloyd’s also switched to a renewable energy supply for its offices in London and Chatham and undertook to calculate and disclose the greenhouse gas emissions of its UK operations. It also reduced the energy consumption of its City building by using digital equipment to ensure better efficiencies.

Wider actions include providing a major share of the world’s insurance of new technology that fights climate change, such as waste-to-energy plants and wind farms.

Lloyd’s also urges insurers to take climate change into account when considering strategy, premium levels and capital requirements.

In addition, Lloyd’s is supporting other organisations that are attempting to combat climate change.

It was a founding signatory of the ClimateWise principles for the insurance industry, backed by HRH the Prince of Wales, which aim to encourage insurance companies to respond to the challenge of climate change as quickly and effectively as possible. It also provides funding to The Lighthill Risk Network, which encourages the flow of knowledge about climate change from academia to the insurance industry.

Other Lloyd’s initiatives include the secondment of an employee to the Prince’s Rainforests Project and contributing £300,000 to help fund the Centre for Earth Systems Intelligence research establishment.