Corporate Responsibility

Earth Day 2010: AXA's Initiatives to Reduce its Environmental Impacts

The 40th annual International Earth Day took place on April 22, 2010. On this occasion, AXA intended to reaffirm its commitment to reduce its environmental impact, one of the key features of the Group's Corporate Responsibility strategy.

At AXA, we are convinced that setting ambitious goals for 2012 regarding our environmental footprint will mean changing our behavior in even more significant ways. By helping our employees become aware of the individual and collective roles they can play in their work, AXA encourages each person to take action. AXA's Department of Corporate Responsibility is working with each region and entity to make the Group's ambitions a reality.

Alice Steenland, Vice President of AXA Group Communication and Corporate Responsibility Department, says that "the proactive management of our environment is a way to prove that we are a socially responsible corporation". AXA represents 121,108 employees around the world who consume 5,099 kilowatt hours of energy, 2.94 tons of CO₂ equivalent, 10.03 cubic meters of water and 49 kilograms of office paper⁽¹⁾ each year.

Today, AXA has achieved its key 2007-2009(2) environmental objectives and has set new and more ambitious objectives for 2012: AXA plans to achieve a 20% reduction in energy consumption (Kilowatt hour/Full Time Equivalent, FTE) and CO2 emissions (Tons CO2 eq./FTE) and a 15% reduction in water (cubic meter/FTE) and paper consumption (Tons/FTE).

To reach these objectives, AXA will continue to promote initiatives across the Group, such as:

• Developing an environmental optimization strategy of information technology tools (the Green IT program established by AXA Technology Services has led to an improvement in energy efficiency, as well as savings of €900,000 in 2008).
• Reducing business travel, by encouraging train travel, and promoting the use of Telepresence. In 2009, the Group had 35 equipped rooms in 12 countries, avoiding 2,574 trips, an equivalent of 28 million kilometers. AXA plans to double the number of equipped rooms in 2010.
• Increasing the proportion of renewable energy used (23%), like AXA MPS using hydrolic power.
• Installing equipment to reduce water consumption (re-using rain water, fitting water efficient faucets as at AXA Winterthur in Switzerland, improving cooling towers as at AXA Corporate Solutions).
• Using paper from recycled sources or sustainably managed forests (AXA PPP in the United Kingdom has increased the use of recycled and FSC-certified blended paper by over 50%).

Of course, AXA is not limiting its programs to these few examples and is involved in numerous other actions: discover our Corporate Responsibility initiatives: http://www.axa.com/en/responsibility/initiatives.

To learn more about how the Group manages its impact on the environment and how environmental issues relate to financial protection: http://www.axa.com/en/responsibility/environment.

⁽¹⁾ In 2009, AXA consolidated its reporting activity to 268 sites in 41 countries, representing 99,296 people, or 82% of the Group's employees.

⁽²⁾ A 7% decrease in energy consumption, representing 5,099 kwh per person as opposed to 5,477 in 2007. A 29% reduction in CO₂ emissions (related to energy consumption and business trips), repesenting 2.94 T.eq. CO₂ compared to 4.15 in 2007 (one New York-Paris round trip equals one T.eq.CO₂). A 3% reduction in water consumption, representing 10.03 m3 per person compared to 10.36 cubic meters in 2007. Paper usage by AXA was reduced by 3% between 2007 and 2008.