Venetia Furbert Launches ‘Sustenance’
Sustenance, a Bermuda-based sustainability consultancy serving re/insurers and other financial institutions, has officially launched, bringing together sustainability management and innovation to help organisations translate ambition into practical business action.
A spokesperson said, “Founded by sustainability professional Venetia Furbert, Sustenance has been developed around two complementary pathways: Sustainability Management and Sustainability Innovation.
“The Sustainability Management pathway helps organisations determine what matters, embed sustainability into the business and demonstrate progress through strategy, integration and reporting.
“Sustainability Innovation, delivered through the Sustenance Innovation Lab, uses design thinking to explore sustainability challenges and identify practical opportunities through insight, design and impact.”
“Organisations are increasingly being asked to think about sustainability not simply in terms of reporting, but in terms of how it influences strategy, risk, resilience and long-term value,” said Venetia Furbert.
“Sustenance was created to help organisations move from ambition to practical action, to build the strategy and systems that give sustainability substance while creating room for innovation.”
From a Seed to Sustenance
A spokesperson said, “The seed for Sustenance was planted in 2019, while Furbert was working in ESG analytics at S&P Global.
“The business had not yet taken its final form, but its name already captured the principle that would guide its development: sustenance is what provides the substance, support and nourishment needed for something to grow and endure.
“Over the years, that seed developed alongside Furbert’s experience across climate risk and environmental, social, and governance or ESG, including work and engagement within insurance and reinsurance markets.
“What began as an idea gradually became a defined approach to helping organisations connect sustainability with the way they make decisions, manage risk and create value.
“Rather than treating sustainability as a standalone initiative, Sustenance is designed to help organisations integrate it into the wider business.
“Its Sustainability Management offering encompasses areas including purpose and materiality, sustainability-related risks and opportunities, integration across underwriting, investment, and the development of metrics, disclosures and communications.
“The intended outcome is a coherent sustainability approach that supports stronger decision-making and credible communication.
“Alongside this, the Sustenance Innovation Lab applies design thinking to sustainability challenges at the intersection of sustainability and commercial value. Areas of exploration include climate resilience, protection gaps, climate tech, nature and biodiversity, and green transition.”
“Management creates discipline. Innovation creates new value,” Ms Furbert said. “The two pathways can work independently or together depending on where an organisation is in its sustainability journey. The goal is to help organisations make stronger decisions, build greater resilience and identify new opportunities.”
A spokesperson added, “That philosophy sits at the centre of the Sustenance model: new insight can inform strategy, while strong management provides the structure needed to translate ideas into action.
Built in Bermuda, for a Changing Market
“Launching Sustenance in Bermuda carries particular significance for Furbert, who describes the jurisdiction as the market that helped shape her professional career.
“With Bermuda’s risk transfer sector operating at the intersection of global risk, capital and resilience, Furbert sees an opportunity for sustainability to become increasingly connected to broader strategic and commercial conversations.”
“Bermuda has innovation in its DNA,” she said. “This is the market that raised me professionally, and I want Sustenance to contribute to how we think about sustainability here, not as something sitting on the edge of the business, but as part of how organisations prepare, adapt and create long-term value.”
A spokesperson added, “Seven years after the idea was first planted, Sustenance is entering the market with the same principle embedded in its name: meaningful growth requires substance.
“For Furbert, the launch represents both the culmination of that journey and the beginning of a new one: helping organisations build sustainability approaches designed not simply to respond to change, but to endure through it.
“The launch comes ahead of Convergence 2026, taking place in Bermuda from October 12– 14, where Sustenance will engage with industry participants around resilience, sustainability and innovation.
“For more information about Sustenance, visit www.sustenance.eco.”
