The global financial services provider Apex Group Ltd has been appointed by (re)insurance broker BMS to deliver carbon footprint assessment and reporting services.

Apex will provide BMS with the platform and tools to measure the company’s source of carbon emissions, and the support to implement plans to reduce its carbon footprint.

This follows the recent launch of Apex’s new carbon footprint service to meet growing market demand among private market companies and their investors.

Apex will quantify and report on BMS emissions by collecting all relevant data on a secure ESG online software platform, simplifying the reporting requirements and seamlessly calculating a carbon footprint.

The platform uses more than a million individual emission factors from the latest data sources and follows industry best-practice reporting standards and regulations to understand and quantify a BMS carbon footprint and potential commercial risks.

The resulting reports will be used to identify and manage key sources of emissions while aligning with the reporting requirements of key standards and regulations.

This proprietary platform is also supported by a team of analysts to offer advice, guidance and support throughout the process.

A key component of this is the recommendation of verified carbon offsetting projects and schemes so that businesses can offset any residual and unavoidable emissions to achieve carbon neutrality.

Apex’s appointment supplements BMS’s existing relationship with the Global Travel Management Carbon Offset Programme, in partnership with Trees4Travel.

The partnership enables BMS to offset the greenhouse gas emissions arising from flights taken for business through a sustainable, low-cost, high-impact scheme to help to remove carbon from the atmosphere.

Andy Pitts-Tucker, managing director of Apex ESG Ratings and Advisory said: “Insurers are coming under increasing pressure from their stakeholders to demonstrate proactive strategies to contribute to international carbon-reduction targets.

“In order to do this, all companies must quantify and fully understand their carbon footprint in order to create and articulate an action plan to reduce their carbon emissions — and this new tool provides our clients with an efficient, accurate and accessible way to achieve this.”

Nick Cook, CEO of BMS Group, said: “We strongly believe that the insurance industry has an influential commercial and moral role to play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

“Apex’s carbon footprint assessment and reporting services provide an efficient and intuitive method of collecting the necessary information from our business, allowing us to accurately monitor, track and enhance our carbon footprint over time.

“By engaging Apex to calculate our carbon footprint, we can take steps to reduce and offset our emissions, and we hope to set an example to others in the insurance industry that, with the right tools, this process can be straightforward and achievable.”