Corporate Responsibility

AXA supports a low carbon economy

On November 3, 2009, in Paris, the Carbon Disclosure Project presented the results of its first Europe report, of which AXA is the main sponsor. The event was an opportunity to review the strategies developed by European businesses and investors to meet the climate challenge. Scientists and economists have made their message clear: climate change is not just an issue for the environment, but also tomorrow's society, and a very real threat for businesses.

Institutional investors created the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) to motivate companies to pay more attention to their CO2 emissions and to raise awareness in the economic world of the risks and opportunities resulting from the climate effects of carbon emissions.

To assess the performance of the world's biggest corporations in responding to the carbon risk and help institutional investors better calculate how climate change impacts the value of their portfolios, each year the CDP, representing 475 corporations with over $55 trillion in assets under management in 2009, conducts a survey. Since 2003, it has encouraged over 3,500⁽¹⁾ companies to report on their climate change strategies and greenhouse gas emissions. The initiative is supported by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

Since 2006, AXA has therefore played a key role in promoting transparency and access to quality environmental data and helping investors incorporate these factors into their decision-making. As a sponsor of the first Europe Report, AXA is taking part in a major undertaking. This new report written by CA Chevreux collects data from Europe's top 300 companies, to deliver a sector-wide view of European initiatives and help evaluate the maturity of their responses to climate change, while establishing closer ties between climate change and financial issues.

According to specialized financial analysts, climate change is the primary risk for the insurance industry in 2009. The volume of claims related to natural catastrophes has multiplied by 15 in 30 years, in particular due to higher storm frequency and insured amounts. Both regulations and pressure from investors and the community have intensified in this area: in the U.S., the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) decided at the end of 2008 to require U.S. insurers to disclose their climate change risks. This illustrates the importance of insurers' roles in reducing the impacts of climate change and direct or indirect greenhouse gas emissions for their insured customers and the companies in which they have invested.

Besides reducing its own environmental footprint (CO2 emissions down 17 percent from 2007), AXA is both a responsible insurer and responsible investor, actively fighting the climate change effects through its P&C⁽²⁾ insurance and investments⁽³⁾. Firmly believing that knowledge promotes economic growth and the society's well-being, in 2008 the AXA Group created the AXA Research Fund, endowed with 100 million euros for five years, to prepare for tomorrow's challenges.

A few days away from the Copenhagen world summit's conclusions on climate change and reducing total GHG emissions (COP15), AXA hopes that this first-ever European report will highlight the risks and opportunities facing European companies and encourage investors to support the transition to a low-carbon economy.

⁽¹⁾1,800 companies responded to the survey.
⁽²⁾Property-casualty insurance: AXA promotes low-consumption vehicles ("green miles"), buildings ("innovation pass"), and businesses ("1,2,3 environnement" offering reduced rates to "green" SMEs) while supporting the development of new energy-producing technologies through insurance.
⁽³⁾Investment: Special funds (for example, the AXA IM Clean Tech Fund), environmental management of real-estate assets ("Green Rating" promoted by AXA REIM), investments in renewable energies (for example, AXA Private Equity - joint venture with the Italian group Tozzi, an investor in this sector in Italy)