COP22, forming the bridge between vision and implementation

The 22nd Conference of the Parties, or COP 22, opened in Marrakech today. This bridge between vision and action, as COP 22 President Salaheddine Mezouar described it, aims to define the implementation of the Paris Agreement, which was adopted one year ago and entered into force on Friday, November 4, 2016.

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The Paris Conference saw the signing of a historic agreement by the world’s leading powers to keep the global temperature rise well below 2°C. One year on, it is time to translate this decision into action.

What have we done since COP 21?

Since the signing of the Paris Agreement in December 2015, prior to which AXA had announced its divestment from companies most exposed to coal-related activities, the Group has launched large-scale initiatives to fight climate change:

The Group also began divesting €0.5 billion from coal assets and will triple its green investments to €3 billion by 2020;
Climate resilience, a key point of the Paris Conference, is also a core issue for AXA. In collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative's Principles for Sustainable Insurance (UNEP FI PSI), the Group published the first international study on how cities and SMEs are working to become more resilient to the consequences of climate change. In 2013, the Group signed the UNISDR Statement of Commitment by the Private Sector for Disaster Prevention, Resilience and Risk Reduction. In so doing, it pledged to play an active role in the development of the Sendai Framework, the new global agreement and successor to the Hyogo Framework for Action.
Under the Montreal Pledge, AXA now assesses and publishes the carbon intensity of its investments every year;
The AXA Group joined the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition, a public-private-civil society initiative to expand the use of carbon pricing, led by the World Bank;
AXA is getting the finance industry to actively join the fight against climate change. The Group hosted the TCFD (Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure) conference and received a top award for its investment-related analysis of climate risks;
AXA is also one of 20 international investors calling for an unlimited moratorium on oil and gas exploration in the Arctic high seas. AXA is asking that the Arctic Council Member States apply stricter, uniform operational standards regarding climate impact when granting or extending drilling licenses. This group of investors is also asking for a voluntary moratorium from oil and gas companies operating in ice-covered Arctic waters, due to current technological uncertainties about oil recovery mechanisms.