How Sustainability Became Everyone’s Concern: the Allstate Experience

BY Joyce Flory | October 25, 2022

Sustainability is everyone’s job. Stakeholders, including employees, customers, partners, and investors, demand that organizations show commitment and progress on environmental, social, and governance issues, or ESG.

Tara Leweling, VP of stakeholder engagement and sustainability and chair of the sustainability council at Allstate Insurance, joined Karen Weigert, director of the Baumhart Center for Social Enterprise & Responsibility at Loyola University Chicago, to explore sustainability as a strategic imperative at From Day One’s conference in Chicago..

Allstate’s commitment to sustainability is longstanding. In May 2021, it published its 19th sustainability report, sharing results on climate change, inclusive diversity and equity, culture, and pandemic response.

Allstate takes a broad view of sustainability, incorporating environmental and social issues into programs involving employees, suppliers, investors, customers, and partners. A robust corporate governance process ensures transparency and integration with stakeholder needs.

Allstate’s sustainability council leads the way. Forty senior executives serve as ESG ambassadors and work on ESG issues across the company’s many business units. Said Leweling: “Our chief legal officer spearheads the council, allowing Allstate to elevate and push sustainability forward as a team.”

Why the Emphasis on Sustainability?

Allstate’s sustainability initiative meshes with stakeholders’ growing demands for action. Investors want details and action plans on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), while consumers and employees prioritize sustainability and climate-change action.

Leweling shares a compelling statistic: 70% Millennials say they prefer to work in an organization with a robust sustainability agenda, according to survey reported in Fast Company. Three-quarters express a willingness to accept lower salaries to work with environmentally responsible organizations.

The takeaway:  Younger employees are eager to influence ESG and sustainability results. Organizations committed to worker recruitment and retention must follow suit.

Climate Change Calculations

Environment and climate change surface in Allstate’s drive to protect consumers from weather-related incidents and disasters. A record number of billion-dollar disasters struck the U.S. in 2020 as the nation saw the fifth-warmest year on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The pain persisted. In 2021, the U.S. experienced 20 different billion-dollar weather and climate-related disasters, surpassing the record 22 disasters of 2020, Leweling said. “Disasters affect the way Allstate thinks about climate change and the impact of freezes, flooding, wildfires, and heat waves in an increasingly perilous environment,” she said.

Allstate examines historical and future data to make pricing decisions while offering consumers greater control over how they influence the environment and how much they pay for insurance. Said Leweling:  “Helping consumers control their carbon footprint, including how many miles they drive, could lead them to make different choices.”

Allstate’s strategy to protect consumers has generated a re-examination of  financial security. Forty percent of consumers have less than $400 in emergency savings, according to a Federal  Reserve report. Said Leweling: We need to think of what we can do to make a dent in that $400, deliver more competitive pricing,  and lift and change the difficult circumstances faced by consumers.”

Allstate also championed consumer control and DEI when it tapped four minority-owned firms to complete a bond offering for an acquisition. “The initiative changed the way companies view bond offerings,” said Leweling.  “The conversation shifts when you position a national brand like Allstate behind minority-owned firms.”

Sustainability Anchors

Allstate’s sustainability initiative is anchored in its shared purpose, three core values, four operating standards, and four behaviors. “Our purpose and values help us reflect on how to operationalize inclusive diversity and equity,” said Leweling. “People should be able to put their full identities into work and have the space to share their work experience.”

And what of the future? Leweling predicts that Allstate will continue to reach out to stakeholders, identifying expectations that drive strategic decisions. “ESG is now engrained in Allstate’s business strategy,” said Leweling. “It drives decisions on products, services, and policies. ESG is at the center of what we do.”

Joyce Flory, PhD, is a Chicago-based freelance writer with decades of experiences in public relations, marketing, and thought leadership with a focus on the health care industry.

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