And its thanks to the combined efforts of Dr. King, AXA Board Chairman Denis Duverne, Head of ESG Integration Sylvain Vanston and CEO Thomas Buberl that, in May 2016, AXA committed to divest €1.8 bn in tobacco-related assets.
In fact, this year, on World No Tobacco Day 2017, AXA’s Paris HQ will host a unique event celebrating the finance sector’s role in the ongoing fight against tobacco, including the presentation of a global statement in support of the WHO framework on tobacco control, signed by more than 50 responsible investors worldwide and co-sponsored by AXA, Calpers, AMP Capital and SCOR. The objective, according to AXA CEO Thomas Buberl, is to “make visible the strong support within the financial community, and to rally more and more stakeholders to encourage both the private and public sector to act against tobacco.”