Axa to sell coal assets and put €3bn into green investments

Axa, one of the world’s largest insurers, has become the first global financial institution to shun investments in coal companies.

The French group, which has more than $1 trillion in assets under management, will sell €500 million of coal assets between now and the end of the year, its chief executive, Henri de Castries, said at a business and climate change conference in Paris yesterday. Axa also said it would put €3 billion into green investments between now and 2020, mainly in clean technology, green infrastructure and green bonds.

The move makes the French group the biggest recruit to an global fossil-fuel divestment campaign that aims to stigmatise the use of coal, oil and gas because of their impact on the climate.

Insurance companies have been the most active group in the financial sector urging governments to take tougher action to combat global warming, because they are among the most exposed to extreme weather events.

“The facts are undeniable,” Mr de Castries told the conference. “If we think we can live in a world where temperatures would have increased by more than two degrees, we’re just fooling ourselves.”

He said after making the announcement that Axa’s move would inspire other financial institutions to follow suit. The divestment push has already seen the heirs to the Rockefeller oil fortune and Stanford University in the US announce plans to curb their coal investments. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2015