AXA reaffirms commitment to fight climate change
Source: Asia Insurance Review | Jan 2018
Global Investment Management
AXA has announced several new ambitious decisions to accelerate its commitment to fight climate change. These new decisions concern all the levers that the Group can activate: investments, divestments, and insurance, the Group announced in an official press release.
In 2015, AXA had committed to reach EUR3 billion in green investments by 2020. Given that this target has already been reached, the Group has decided to quadruple its original target and reach EUR12 billion by 2020. This accelerated target is twice as high as the recent recommendation from Ms Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and one of the leading architects of the COP21, to invest 1% of assets into green and clean technology by 2020.
Divesting from coal and oil sands energy sources
Also in 2015, AXA had decided to divest EUR500 million from the coal industry by targeting companies which derive over 50% of their revenues from coal. The Group decided to increase its divestment fivefold to reach EUR2.4 billion, by divesting from companies which derive more than 30% of their revenues from coal, have a coal-based energy mix that exceeds 30%, actively build new coal plants, or produce more than 20 million tonnes of coal per year.
In addition, because oil sands are also an extremely carbon-intensive form of energy and a serious cause of environmental pollution, AXA announced the divestment of over EUR700 million from the main oil sands producers and associated pipelines, and the discontinuation of further investments in these businesses.
Sending out a strong signal
AXA has been a key contributor to the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), and will now implement their recommendations in the Group’s upcoming Annual Financial Report.
AXA also leads the European Union High Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance, and supports several coalitions such as the Climate Action 100+ initiative and the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI). A