AXA has announced a string of decarbonisation targets for its investment and insurance activities in a bid to combat climate change.
In a notable commitment, the company aims to reduce emissions from its largest commercial insurance clients by 30%, and to cut the carbon footprint of its general account investment assets by 50% by 2030, compared to 2019 levels.
These goals were revealed alongside the publication of AXA’s 2023 Climate & Biodiversity Report. This follows AXA’s recent departure from the Net Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA) due to anti-ESG political pressure in the US. Despite this move, AXA, as a founding member and chair of NZIA, pledged to keep utilising the alliance’s developed toolsets to pursue individual decarbonisation targets and aid clients in their climate transitions. AXA continues to be a part of the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance.
For the first time, AXA’s report also includes decarbonisation targets for various Property & Casualty insurance portfolios. The company is striving to reduce the carbon intensity of the most significant personal motor portfolios by 20%. In addition to the 30% emissions reduction target for the largest clients, AXA also plans to cut the carbon intensity of other corporate clients by 20% by 2030, using a 2021 baseline.
AXA has laid out plans to grow its presence in the renewable energy sector and sectors transitioning to low carbon business models. It also intends to bolster dialogue with corporate customers, external stakeholders, and partners to better assist them in their transitions.
In the report, AXA unveiled that the “implied temperature rise”, a measure of the 2050 warming impact of the group’s general account portfolio’s bond and equities holdings, has decreased by 0.1°C compared to the previous year. It now stands at 2.5°C, compared to the market average of 2.7°C.
AXA Chief Executive Officer Tomas Buberl said, “As insurers, we see the increasing risks that climate change and the loss of biodiversity pose to our economies and societies, and how they are intensifying. We will continue engaging with our clients and our stakeholders leveraging all the levers at our disposal, from prevention to investment, from the financing of scientific research to insurance, as well as partnerships and collaboration with private and public players.”
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