Responsible investing is a strategy and practice of incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in one's investment decisions. It can yield better results in the long run, not just for the investor, but also for the community at large.
One of the companies that believes this is AXA,
a leading global insurance brand. In recent years, the insurance company has
developed a philosophy of ‘responsible investing is also good investing’ as
part of its efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change.
The benefits of responsible investing were
covered in “From All in to All Clean,” a recent webinar organized by AXA in
partnership with the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP).
The webinar featured the Chief Investment Officers of AXA’s global asset
managers, AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) and Architas, who shared their
experience in transitioning to a responsible investment approach and the
environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors they consider in their
manager and fund selection process.
Chris Iggo, Chief Investment Officer of AXA IM,
said: "We want to invest in companies and in all kinds of different assets
that not only deliver a good financial return but also, through their
operations, are beneficial to society and to the environment. To us,
responsible investing is also good investing. It’s not an additional service
but at the core of what we do.”
Responsible investing is part of AXA’s global
sustainability strategy that is built around climate action and inclusive protection.
AXA assesses the impact of its sustainability strategy in three key areas: as
an insurer, as an organisation, and as an investor.
As an investor, AXA has committed to reaching
€25 billion of assets in green investments by 2023 and to decreasing the carbon
footprint of its general account assets by 20% by 2025. Its asset managers
practice an exclusions-based approach, where certain companies or sectors
cannot be held in portfolios, and integrate ESG considerations in their
investment processes. AXA has also developed a proprietary ESG research and
scoring methodology, which has been applied to over 9,000 partner companies in
its database.
“For us, ESG is a criteria that we believe
enhances returns,” explained Jaime Arguelles, Architas’ Chief Investment
Officer. “We believe that it is essential for us managers to have this
integration right now to influence good behavior, and work towards climate
change and other criteria of ESG areas.”
“From All In To All Clean: How your investments
can support sustainable development and climate action” is the second of a
three-part webinar series that will run untilOctober.Through the webinars, AXA
and the ECCP hope to provide an informative responsible investment platform
where local investors can equip themselves with the knowledge needed to become
more responsible in their investment decisions and for fund managers to
effectively guide them through the whole process.
The third webinar, “The Road to Net Zero: A look
inside China’s quest to champion climate action” will be held on October 25 at
4pm. For the full schedule and to register for the responsible investing
webinars, visit the ECCP website at https://www.eccp.com. More information can also be found on the AXA
Philippines Facebook page or by visiting the AXA Philippines website at
https://bit.ly/AXAECCP_Oct.
For more information on responsible investing
topics, check out AXA IMat https://www.axa-im.com/responsible-investing and
Architas athttps://www.architas.com/responsible-investing/.
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