How Aviva’s first nature strategy lead is integrating biodiversity across the company’s sustainability program
Thomas Viegas' goal is to embed nature into every decision the firm makes, whether related to its investments, insurance portfolio, direct operations or supply chains. Read More
In recent years many businesses and investors have started to recognize the importance of addressing biodiversity loss alongside global warming. Halting species’ decline and restoring ecosystems is becoming part of business goals and investment strategies — and meeting those goals requires adding new expertise to their teams.
As a result, a variety of nature-specific jobs are now emerging. We’ve reached out to trailblazers in these roles to understand what’s unique about working on biodiversity and to share insights with future hiring managers and job seekers.
I spoke with Thomas Viegas, who joined the U.K. insurance company Aviva as its inaugural nature strategy lead in April. In this role, Viegas is part of Aviva’s central sustainability team and helps lead the company’s climate and social impact strategies. At the heart of his role lies the goal of embedding nature into every decision the firm makes, whether related to its investments, insurance portfolio, direct operations or supply chains.
From economist to nature lead in 4 years
Trained as an economist, Viegas first got exposed to biodiversity while working on an interdisciplinary team with ecologists and earth scientists in 2020 for the Dasgupta Review, an independent global study on the economics of biodiversity commissioned by the U.K. government.
Before Aviva, Viegas worked at the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosure, a standards-setter for corporate nature action, where he led capacity building and regulatory engagement activities. That role involved helping businesses and financial institutions manage their nature-related risks and take advantage of respective opportunities.
The work was fulfilling, but Viegas wanted to go a step further. “I wanted to put myself in an institution and try and do it myself because I think that only there you really see the hidden challenges and opportunities.”
Embedding nature at the core of corporate sustainability
In his first six months on the job, Viegas learned a significant lesson: understanding the business and effectively engaging stakeholders across the organization is fundamental. “If I want nature to be embedded across every single decision that the business makes, I need to understand how the business makes every single decision,” he said. “That takes time, and it takes building relationships.”
He spent time trying to understand different teams’ priorities and figuring out how to translate his goals into their language and processes. “It’s not about me coming in and blazing a trail, saying this is what needs to happen. It’s about first doing due diligence to understand what goes on on the inside.”
The Five Factors That Drive Credit Price for Early-Stage Reforestation Projects
It also became clear that providing nature-specific training and upskilling is a key area for impact. Many colleagues still need to learn about the relevance of nature-related risks and opportunities to Aviva’s business strategy.
Finally, he’s been investigating ways to integrate new nature initiatives with existing sustainability programs at the insurance firm that focus on climate and social impacts, rather than building a nature program that’s disconnected from the work his colleagues are already doing. For example, this could mean optimizing the social aspects of a biodiversity project that Aviva is investing in. In this way, he said, the company’s sustainability pillars — climate, social and nature — can work in unison to strengthen the overall sustainability program.
Ensuring that nature remains in the planning, strategic thinking and governance of an organization he touches is Viegas’ ultimate goal. “That’s my job well done as opposed to just hiring a lot of people and then being able to say we’ve got the biggest team working on this.”
Finding the right nature lead and setting them up for success
For chief sustainability officers looking to create a nature lead role, Viegas shared two pieces of advice:
- Prioritize engagement skills: While finding a candidate with sustainability strategy and subject matter expertise would be ideal, he’d prioritize the former: “You need someone who can engage, who can mobilize, who can get stuff going. I think that’s really the vital element.”
- Foster team connectivity: Structure the team in a way that enables close collaboration of the nature lead with other issue managers such as climate change and social impact to facilitate an integrated sustainability approach. “Don’t just look at the job description,” Viegas said. “Look at the structure they’re coming into, because ultimately, that will determine how impactful they can be.”
His journey shows one way for people interested in transitioning into a nature-focused role but who haven’t worked on the topic before.
“It doesn’t matter if you haven’t worked in an environmental-facing role before,” Viegas said. “Everyone has their own really meaningful experience, skills and knowledge. And you will bring something that’s probably needed because we ultimately need different views, opinions and actions to move to a sustainable future.”
Subscribe to Trellis Briefing
