AXA announces new decarbonisation targets, for its insurance and investment portfolios, in its 2023 Climate & Biodiversity report. The report, in its 8th edition of Climate & Biodiversity, refers to the legal obligations for extra-financial reporting and to the voluntary recommendations by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).
Climate & Biodiversity Report 2023
AXA highlights its steps on climate and biodiversity in the fields of governance, strategy, risk management and quantified indicators of the impact of its actions. Among main indicators is “the Group portfolio’s implied temperature rise”. This indicator measures the impact of the corporate bonds and equities held in the Group’s general account portfolios on global warming by 2050.
It stands at 2.5°C in 2022, down 0.1°C on last year using the same methodology and remains below the market (2.7°C).
AXA, Chief Executive Officer, Thomas Bubrel said,
“These targets demonstrate our determination to pursue our commitment towards climate change. The indicators in our Climate and Biodiversity report indicate the progress made, but also the efforts that are still required in terms of access to data, strengthening measurement and modeling methodologies, and the importance of accelerating the pace of the transition.”
“As insurers, we see the increasing risks that climate change and the loss of biodiversity pose to our economies and societies, and how they are intensifying. We will continue engaging with our clients and our stakeholders leveraging all the levers at our disposal, from prevention to investment, from the financing of scientific research to insurance, as well as partnerships and collaboration with private and public players.”
Insurance portfolios
AXA is publishing targets to drive the decarbonisation of its Property & Casualty insurance portfolios. The targets also develop insurance activities dedicated to the transition. The targets include –
- Enhance business in the field of renewable energy, broadly across sectors transitioning to low carbon business models.
- Developing environmentally sustainable claims management for its motor business by 2026.
- Reduce the carbon intensity of the most material personal motor portfolios in the Group by 20% by 2030.
- Reduce the absolute carbon emissions of the Group’s largest commercial insurance clients by 30%. Also, reduce the carbon intensity of other corporate clients by 20% by 2030 compared with a 2021 baseline.
- Strengthen dialogue with its customers. Particularly its corporate customers as well as with its external stakeholders and partners to support transition.
These targets are based on new calculation and methodologies of the sector.
Investment portfolios
AXA announces to continue its measures to reduce carbon footprint of its investment activities. AXA had previously set a target of reducing its general account assets by 20% between 2019 and 2025. Their new target is of a 50% reduction between 2019 and 2030.
