Just a couple of weeks ago, our Global Responsible Business Officer, Gillie Fairbrother announced the launch of our 2025 Responsible Business Report. Centred around our People, Planet, Purpose strategy and the associated objectives set to improve our sustainability efforts, this year’s report revealed highlights including 50% of our Group Executive Committee (GEC) now having business-linked remuneration, the kick-off of our global women’s mentoring circle, and a 28% reduction in our greenhouse gas emission intensity.  

Following the launch, we caught up with Gillie to get the inside scoop on what responsible business means to her personally, the sustainability challenges she anticipates as Davies continues to grow, and a sneak peek at what we can look forward to seeing in 2026.  

Hi Gillie. Congratulations on another fantastic year! Diving straight in, can you tell us what “responsible business” means to you personally, and how your definition of it might have changed since you launched the strategy in 2023? 

Gillie: To me, responsible business is a commitment to equity, wellbeing, and environmental integrity. It’s putting those aspects at the forefront of everything we do, rather than trying to shoehorn them into our policies and processes as an afterthought. It’s being genuinely dedicated to making real change and letting that dedication lead our decisions.  

Sustainability isn’t a one-and-done exercise, and it certainly takes time to even begin to see the progress you’ve been working towards, so it’s important to be patient and find tangible ways to demonstrate impact.  

It’s also worth noting that as the world continues to evolve, there are continuously new things to consider, and more challenges appearing and having adaptability in your toolkit is even more crucial than some anticipate. And doing business responsibly depends on being able to look at what you were doing previously and knowing why and where your efforts need ramping up or changing.  

Earlier this year, the Group CEO, Dan Saulter, unveiled the Davies’ Vision-2030 strategy and this is directly mentioned in his foreword within the report. How does the work that’s documented in this year’s report feed into these growth plans? 

Gillie: As detailed in our Vision-2030 strategy, there are four core areas the business will be focusing on, and investing in, for the next five years – one of which is growth through geographical expansion. We recognise that these ambitious growth plans naturally come with consequences to the environment, and we are committed to limiting these as much as possible, while being able to provide our clients with the reliable, trustworthy service they’re used to.  

Similarly, another of our goals is centred around continuously innovating – specifically by leveraging the latest technology like AI. But, with some of these technologies having impacts on the environment, it’s crucial for us to manage our usage to ensure our colleagues continue to use technology efficiently and responsibly. For this purpose, we have this year implemented mandatory AI training for all Davies colleagues, including frequent refresher courses to ensure everyone is up to speed on what it means to use AI sustainably and responsibly. Additionally, our environmental team, which includes members of our Eco Davies Employee Resource Group (ERG) are working to review policies and examine how we can limit the environmental impact as our AI usage grows.  

Every year, we are aiming to act more responsibly than the last, and it’s great to see the positive impacts we’ve been able to have this year on the environment, and our communities.  

Q3) What is the standout piece for you in this year’s report? 

Gillie: You may have noticed that this year’s report looks a little different to last, and that’s simply down to the fact that we wanted to be able to fit more of our great achievements into our reports. This year, I think the work done by our People Champion, Laura Harvey, really stood out to me. Spearheading the launch of our Vulnerable Customer (VC) zone, Laura has curated a dedicated team of customer service and technical claims handlers, who specialise in supporting vulnerable customers.  

Operating within the financial services sector, we have a responsibility to ensure all customers are treated fairly and always given full understanding – and that’s exactly what the VC zone aims to enhance, and to encourage out-of-the-box thinking and innovation to create bespoke solutions to all claims.   

Another thing to highlight in this year’s report are our emissions reductions and our improved reporting on this data. In 2025, we made significant progress in our decarbonisation journey, not only delivering measurable emissions reductions but also enhancing our data collection processes. These revealed lower emissions than previously estimated in some areas. We hope to see more of this as we continue to improve our data collection. It’s important to share while we do expect our footprint to grow as we undergo further geographical expansion, we welcome the chance to steward a bigger footprint and to inspire other companies of all sizes to do similar.  

Q4) Davies has achieved ten years of uninterrupted growth—what challenges have you seen, or do you anticipate being present as the firm continues to grow with regards to responsible business? 

Gillie: One of the biggest drivers for us in terms of success in our industry, is the growing expectation from clients for us to perform in this space. And that means there is pressure on us to continue to meet their demands and expectations, while we navigate growth over the next five years and beyond. While it’ll no doubt be challenging, it serves an opportunity for us to learn more about being a responsible business, and work with our colleagues, clients, and stakeholders to ensure Davies remains one.  

Davies has grown significantly this year – we are now spread over 22 countries, and have completed many new acquisitions, so we’ve had more data than ever before to collect and interpret. Of course, the data is important, but the actions we’re taking from the learnings of our data is more crucial to me, so I’d say striking the right balance between spending time getting the data right and time spent driving action forward was a more prominent challenge for me this year. 

Q5) Are there any hints you can give us as to what we can expect to hear about in the 2026 report? 

Gillie: We have lots planned for 2026 to support in keeping us on an upward trajectory, in terms of responsible business and sustainability. In both this year’s report and the 2024 report, we’ve shared the work our property claims division has been doing to increase sustainability in their service offerings, and this is something we are continuing to work on for the long-term. To assist with this, next year we have a big engagement project to support our product and service delivery teams to increase sustainability of their offerings and ensuring clear accountability structures for ownership as not to silo our efforts. Similarly, we remain committed to ensuring we are partnering with responsible suppliers, with plans to engage with our top IT partners to understand how they’re helping our value chain decarbonise. We’ll also be looking at how we can maximise efficiency in data storage to reduce cost and carbon, helping us to further demonstrate sustainable practices and add business value.  

We are also relaunching the new structure of the charitable arm of our business, the Davies Foundation, which will have its own dedicated impact report within our 2026 report, so keep an eye out for that too!  

To find out more information, or to download the report, visit our Responsible Business website. You can also keep up with all things responsible business at Davies on our LinkedIn or on Gillie’s.