What is AXA Climate? A look behind the transformation

To better understand what AXA Climate is today, and how it has evolved from a small entrepreneurial initiative to a global engine for adaptation, we asked four questions to Antoine Denoix, CEO of AXA Climate.

In 2019, AXA Climate started with only five people. What do you remember from that moment?

When we created AXA Climate in 2019, we were a small group of colleagues united by the belief that climate services needed a dedicated structure within AXA. By then, AXA had already been moving strongly on resilience. We built that foundation, taking the Group’s ambition one step further in a more entrepreneurial way.

That same year, Europe experienced some of the most severe climate events in its history, including an unprecedented heatwave that pushed temperatures to 46°C in southern France.

Globally, the picture was equally alarming. In 2018 and 2019, record wildfires in California, Cyclone Idai in southern Africa, and extreme heatwaves across India and Pakistan showed that physical climate risks were no longer distant scenarios but present-day realities reshaping economies and societies.

Yet few companies focused on adaptation, as floods, heatwaves, and droughts were already reshaping regions and challenging organizational resilience.

Looking back, what stands out is the combination of uncertainty and conviction that defined those early months. We had no blueprint, only a strong sense of purpose and the ambition to build something new.

Since 2019, we have multiplied our revenue by more than ten, grown from five people to over 250 employees, developed four high-performing business lines, and now supports more than 500 companies worldwide.

How would you define AXA Climate today?

AXA Climate is an incubator that has successfully created four complementary activities: insurance, consulting, training and, most recently, a SaaS business unit developing science-based, data-driven SaaS platforms to help decision-makers manage climate and biodiversity risks across different sectors.

Three of these activities are already breakeven, and  and the most recent one, our SaaS platform Altitude, is expected deliver first profits next year. AXA Climate is therefore neither a single business unit nor a pure laboratory. It is a strategic engine that brings together innovation, impact and clear economic targets. This performance is no accident: it is rooted in a strong shared conviction and a singular culture that gives teams the space, trust, and ambition to create.

What achievements best illustrate AXA Climate’s development?

What makes me most proud is the extraordinary momentum built by our teams across all activities.

The training activity created the Climate School, and convinced 300 companies to deploy it, and now provides more than seven million employees worldwide with access to its learning modules. A new chapter is underway with the expansion of in-person training, with more than 1,500 people trained in person this year.

Our insurance activity has developed innovative parametric solutions that now protect companies, farmers, vulnerable communities and natural ecosystems from extreme weather events and climate anomalies, in over 40 countries.

On the consulting side, teams have already supported more than 300 companies and investors across all sectors and geographies, helping them navigate the environmental transition, strengthen climate governance and integrate physical risks into core business decisions.

Finally, our SaaS activity created Altitude from scratch — several science-based platforms that helps organisations, particularly infrastructure players, private equity funds and industrial companies, assess and manage climate and biodiversity risks. For instance, today, more than 100 clients use Altitude Finance to inform strategic decisions. The activity is on track to reach profitability next year.

Together, these achievements show that our mission can go hand in hand with long-term value creation.

What is next for AXA Climate?

Today, we stand on solid ground. We have built a proven model, four complementary activities, and a strong financial base. The next chapter is about acceleration.

Each activity will scale with greater autonomy, expanding internationally, forming new strategic partnerships, and pursuing targeted acquisitions where it makes sense. At the same time, we will continue to explore new domains where adaptation needs are more urgent critical, particularly in food security.

Just as in the early days, we will keep growing within the AXA ecosystem, working closely with other entities so that our expertise, products, and scientific capabilities fully support the Group’s strategy and its purpose: Protecting what matters.

Our ambition is to further establish AXA Climate as a platform where innovation translates into measurable impact and long-term value, attracting people who want to build concrete solutions in a world shaped by new challenges.

This is only the beginning.