Examining Strategies Developed by Insurance Companies for Addressing Carbon Emissions in the Automotive Supply Chain in the UK

The automotive supply chain is one of the top eight value chains that cause 50% of global emissions. Despite its significance, limited literature has researched the role of insurance companies in addressing automotive supply chain emissions. This research explores strategies developed by insurance companies for addressing carbon emissions in the automotive supply chain in the UK. It employs a qualitative multiple case study approach and conducts in-depth analysis of main drivers, barriers, and strategies in four insurance companies in addressing automotive supply chain emissions. It finds that cost savings and competitive advantage, changing mindset, impending regulation, market changes, and increased connectedness are the main drivers. But further progress is slowed down by five main barriers: ‘the complexity of tracking and quantifying emissions’, ‘conflicts of interest in the supply chain’, ‘skill shortage’, ‘lack of accountability’, and ‘profit prioritisation’. To overcome this, the study establishes five main strategies for insurance companies to follow: ‘circular business model with green parts and repair-over-replace methodologies’, ‘supply chain collaboration’, ‘quantifying emissions and setting key performance indicators’, ‘higher weighting for ESG in tenders and policies’, and ‘education and awareness’. If followed correctly, businesses will be able to achieve ‘emission reductions’, ‘gain competitive advantage’, and ‘reduce costs in the supply chain’. Taking into account these findings and the academic literature, this study develops a framework for insurance companies to mitigate automotive supply chain emissions. This is one of the first papers to study carbon emissions in automotive supply chains from the perspective of the insurance industry. It provides practical implications for the insurance industry in developing carbon emission strategies in automotive supply chains.